LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Si: A133 
^5 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ELEMENTS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 




BRONZE STATUE OF WILLIAM PENN. 
New City Hall, Philadelphia. 



Elements of Civil Government 

IN 

THE COMMONWEALTH OF 
PENNSYLVANIA 

WITH A 

BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY 
OF THE STATE 



DESIGNED FOR USE AS A TEXT-BOOK IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE 
SCHOOLS, AND FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING 



BY 

GEORGE MORRIS PHILIPS, Ph.D. 

Principal of State Normal School, West Chester, Pa. 




Mi 

SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 
New York BOSTON Chicago 

1893 






} 



^ w 



Copyright, 1893, 
By SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY, 



NcrfocoTJ Press t 

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. 

Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The history of Pennsylvania is both interesting and impor- 
tant, but as the general histories and text-books on this subject 
can be relied upon to do it justice, the great part of this sketch 
will be given to the civil government of the state and of its 
subdivisions, the counties, cities, townships, and boroughs, 
which derive their powers from the state. 

The United States is a Republic of Republics. Pennsyl- 
vania is a republic, just as the United States is. It has its 
constitution, and makes and executes its own laws, subject, of 
course, to the constitution of the United States (see Constitu- 
tion of the United States, Art. 6, clause 2). Its inhabitants 
live under a double government. In matters which concern the 
whole nation, they are subject to the laws and authority of the 
United States government ; but in matters supposed to con- 
cern the state only, they are subject to the laws and authority 
of the state. The constitution of the United States determines 
the dividing line between national and state authority. Con- 
gress and the President have power to make and execute such 
laws only as this constitution gives them the right to make. 
All other powers are left to the states or the people (see Con- 
stitution of the United States, Tenth Amendment) . 

As a matter of fact, the great majority of the laws that gov- 
ern us in our every-day lives and avocations are state laws, with 
which Congress and the President have had nothing whatever 
to do; viz. the laws governing the inheritance- of property, 
buying and selling, the laying and collecting of taxes (except 
the tariff and internal revenue), roads, schools, all the ordinary 
crimes, such as murder, theft, arson, assault, etc., are almost 

5 



6 PREFATORY NOTE. 

all state laws, passed not at Washington, but at Harrisburg. 
Hence the importance of the constitution and government of 
the state as well as of the United States. Smull's Legislative 
Handbook, published each year by the state for free distribu- 
tion, is invaluable to the teacher of civil government in Penn- 
sylvania. It can probably be secured by early application to 
one's representative or senator. 

And while studying their own national and state govern- 
ments, students will do wisely to compare their government 
with others, especially with those of the other republics and of 
Great Britain. They will find, for instance, that while Switzer- 
land, Mexico, Brazil, and some others of the South American 
republics, are federated republics with separate states like ours, 
that France, Chili, and other republics are not divided into 
states in this way. They will find that although the govern- 
ment of Great Britain is a monarchy, it is almost as free a 
government as ours, and indeed many of the best features of 
our government have been copied from that of Great Britain. 

In a country like ours, where the rulers are the people, it is 
of prime importance that all citizens, especially all who are 
privileged to exercise the elective franchise, shall have an 
intelligent knowledge of the general features of the government 
under which they live, and of which they form a part. 

Special acknowledgment of valuable aid is due Alfred P. 
Reid, Esq., of West Chester, who is widely known for his legal 
knowledge and ability. This is believed to be the first attempt 
to produce a popular account of the government of Pennsyl- 
vania. On this account, and because of the immense amount 
of special legislation still in force in every part of the state, its 
preparation has not been an easy task. The author will be 
grateful for suggestions and corrections from those who may 
use it. 

G. M. P. 

West Chester, Pa., April, 1893. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. — History of the State. 



PAGE 



The first settlers 9 

The province granted to Penn 9 

The early government . . . . 10 

The growth of the colony 11 

Penn's successors 12 

Pennsylvania in the Revolution ... 12 

History since the .Revolution 12 

CHAPTER II. — The State Constitutions. 

The earlier constitutions 14 

The present constitution 14 

How the constitution may be amended 15 

CHAPTER III. — The State Government — Legislative 
Department. 

The Senate 16 

The House of Representatives 17 

Sessions of the General Assembly 17 

Duties of the General Assembly 18 

CHAPTER IV. — The Executive Department. 

The governor. His powers and duties 20 

The lieutenant-governor 20 

Other executive officers 20 

The pardon board 22 

CHAPTER V. — The Judiciary Department. 

County courts. Judges 23 

Juries 23 

Criminal courts 24 

Conduct of criminal trials 25 

Civil suits 26 

Other courts 26 

The Supreme Court 27 

Common law 28 

Habeas corpus 28 

Terms of office and salaries of state officers 30 

CHAPTER VI. — County Government. 

Formation of counties 31 

County commissioners. . 32 

County treasurer 33 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sheriff '. 33 

Prothonotary 34 

Clerk of the courts 35 

Clerk of the orphans' courts 35 

Register of wills 35 

Recorder of deeds 36 

Coroner 36 

District attorney 37 

County surveyor 37 

Jury commissioners 37 

Directors of the poor 37 

Mercantile appraiser 38 

County auditors 38 

Prison inspectors 39 

County superintendent of schools 39 

CHAPTER VII.— Township Government. 

Formation of townships 41 

Assessor 41 

Supervisors 43 

School directors 43 

Overseers of the poor 44 

Collector 44 

Town clerk 45 

Auditors 45 

Justice of the peace ... 45 

Constable 46 

CHAPTER VIII. — Boroughs and Cities. 

How boroughs are formed 48 

The government of boroughs 48 

Borough officers 48, 49 

The government of cities 50—53 

Cities, and how they are formed 50 

Government of the smaller cities 50 

Officers of the smaller cities 50, 5 1 

Government of larger cities 52 

CHAPTER IX. — Nominations and Elections. 

Nominations for state offices 54 

Nominations for county offices 55 

Nominations for other offices 56 

Elections 56-58 

Election officers 56 

Ballots 57 

Voting 57 

APPENDIX. 

The Constitution of Pennsylvania 59 

Index 105 



THE HISTORY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT 
OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

CHAPTER I. 

A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE STATE. 

The First Settlers. — The first permanent European 
settlements in Pennsylvania were made by the Swedes 
along the Delaware River in the first half of the seven- 
teenth century. The Dutch colonists, whose headquar- 
ters were at New Amsterdam (New York), had previously 
made some explorations along the lower Delaware and 
had traded with the natives. They claimed the country, 
and in 1655, under the leadership of Stuyvesant, over- 
powered the Swedish colonists and established their 
authority over this region. Nine years later, when the 
Dutch power in North America was overthrown by the 
English, the few settlers in what was afterwards to be 
Pennsylvania came under the jurisdiction of the English 
governor of New York. 

The Province granted to Penn. — In 168 1 Charles II., 
of England, in order to discharge a debt of ,£16,000 
due Admiral Penn, and upon his death inherited by his 

9 



IO CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

son William Penn, granted to the latter the province 
of Pennsylvania. 1 Penn's charter not only gave him 
the ownership of all the land in this great province, 
but made him its absolute ruler, subject only to the 
sovereignty of the king. The next year Penn visited 
his province, the good ship Welcome landing him and 
his colonists at Chester (whose name was on this occa- 
sion changed by Penn from Upland to Chester, from the 
old English city of that name) on October 29, 1682. 
Instead of relying upon his royal grant and dispossess- 
ing the Indians of their lands by force, as other early 
American colonists did, Penn purchased the lands from 
them and made treaties of peace and friendship with 
them. As a result of this wise and humane policy, 
Pennsylvania was free from Indian wars and massacres 
for half a century. 

The Early Government. — Penn confirmed the Swedes 
and Dutch whom he found in his province in the pos- 
session of the lands they occupied, and gave to them 
and to his own colonists a most liberal government. 
He reserved to himself the governorship and the ap- 
pointment of a lieutenant-governor to act in his absence, 
but he gave all legislation into the hands of the Assem- 
bly, which consisted of but a single house and was 
elected by the people. He provided for perfect liberty 
of worship, and capital punishment, the penalty every- 
where then for all grave and many trivial crimes, 

1 This name was given to the province by King Charles in his charter to 
Penn. Penn wished to have it named New Wales, and when the king's 
secretary, a Welshman, prevented that, Penn suggested Sylvania, a name 
euphonized from the Latin word silva (or sylva), a forest. To this the 
king prefixed Penn, in honor of Admiral Penn. So Pennsylvania means 
the Perm forest. 



HISTORY OF THE STATE. II 

was inflicted only for murder and treason. Slavery 
was discouraged and the slave trade as far as possible 
stopped. Trial by jury was guaranteed both to whites 
and Indians, and when the latter were tried, half of the 
jurymen were to be of their own race. Penn at first 
organized three counties, — Chester, Philadelphia, and 
Bucks, Chester being the first of the three. By the 
division of these and the organization of new settlements 
other counties were subsequently formed. Penn also 
divided his counties into townships, thus forming the 
political subdivisions which have existed ever since. 
The first Assembly met in Chester in December, 1682, 
but during the remainder of the colonial period Phila- 
delphia was the seat of government. 

The Growth of the Colony. — As a result of the wise 
and liberal policy of the Proprietary, and on account of 
the fertility of the land and the low prices at which it 
was sold, the colony prospered exceedingly. To the few 
Swedes and Dutch whom Penn found in his province 
was speedily added a large immigration of Penn's co- 
religionists, Quakers, from Great Britain and mainly 
from England. These settled in and immediately around 
Philadelphia ; they gave to the colony its peculiar char- 
acteristics and were for many years the controlling 
element. They were followed by a large influx of 
immigrants from Southern Germany, who pushed fur- 
ther into the interior and monopolized much of the best 
land of the province. They brought with them their 
language and customs, as well as their religion. The 
Scotch-Irish, frbm the North of Ireland, also came in 
large numbers, and played an important part in the 
development of the new state. At the outbreak of the 



12 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Revolution, Pennsylvania was one of the richest and 
most populous of all the colonies, and Philadelphia was 
the largest and foremost city in the colonies. 

Penn's Successors. — Penn visited his colony twice, 
each time spending two years there. He was unself- 
ishly devoted to its welfare, but received from it no 
recompense and very little gratitude. He died in 
England in 171 8. His authority and possessions in 
Pennsylvania descended to his widow, and afterwards 
to his sons and grandsons, and were maintained by 
them with more or less success until the time of the 
Revolution, when they relinquished all authority and 
claims in the province upon the payment to them 
by the colony of ;£ 130,000. 

Pennsylvania in the Revolution. — Although averse 
to war on account of the dominance of Quaker in- 
fluence, Pennsylvania played an important part in 
the Revolution. In Philadelphia the Declaration of 
Independence was written and signed, and here the 
Continental Congress continued to hold its sessions 
except when the city was in the hands of the enemy. 
The battles of Brandywine and Germantown were 
fought on its soil, its hills witnessed the patriot army's 
sufferings at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-8; 
and it furnished its full share of men and money for the 
struggle. Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolu- 
tion, and Benjamin Franklin, the great scientist and 
statesman who secured for his country in the darkest 
hour of its struggle the powerful aid of France, were 
citizens of Pennsylvania. 

History since the Revolution. — In 1787 the conven- 
tion which framed the Constitution of the United 



HISTORY OF THE STATE. 1 3 

States met and did its great work in the same historic 
statehouse in which the Declaration of Independence 
had been signed and in which the Continental Congress 
had met. For the last decade of the eighteenth cen- 
tury Philadelphia was the seat of the national gov- 
ernment. Here, in a great marble building on Chestnut 
Street, now the Custom House, was the home of the 
United States Bank. And here was established the 
chief national mint, where it still remains. Pennsylvania 
has always borne a prominent and honorable part in 
the history and development of the country. She 
furnished hundreds of thousands of brave soldiers 
and many able officers to the Union armies during the 
Southern rebellion. The most important battle of the 
war was fought at Gettysburg on her soil. And her 
agricultural and mineral resources and her manu- 
factures, which constantly develop and increase so 
marvellously, make the Keystone State in many re- 
spects the most important state in the Union. 



14 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER II. 
THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 

The Earlier Constitutions. — The final charter of 
privileges given to Pennsylvania by William Penn in 
1 701 was the fundamental law of the province until 
1776. In that year a state convention met in Phila- 
delphia and framed a constitution, which superseded 
Penn's charter. In 1790 another state convention met 
in Philadelphia and framed a second constitution, which 
was adopted by a popular vote the same year. In 1837- 
38 a third constitution was drawn up by a convention 
which held its meetings in Harrisburg and Philadelphia, 
and which by a close popular vote superseded the 
constitution of 1790. 

The Present Constitution. — In 1872-73 a fourth con- 
stitutional convention, composed of one hundred and 
thirty members, elected by the people of the state for 
this purpose by authority of an act of the state leg- 
islature, met also at Harrisburg and at Philadelphia, 
and framed a constitution for the state, which, having 
been ratified by a lar£e majority of the voters of the 
state in 1873, has since January 1, 1874, been the 
supreme law of Pennsylvania. This is commonly known 
as The Constitution of 1873. It was carefully and 
wisely drawn up ; it has worked well in practice and is 
in almost every particular a model state constitution. 



THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 15 

The full text of this constitution will be found in the 
appendix. 

How the Constitution may be amended. — Amend- 
ments to the constitution must be agreed to by a 
majority of the members of each branch of the state 
legislature in two successive sessions (which come two 
years apart), and must then be submitted to the popular 
vote of the state. Amendments cannot be submitted 
oftener than once in five years. No amendment has 
yet been made to the present constitution. (See Const. 
Art. XVIII.) 



1 6 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE STATE GOVERNMENT. — LEGISLATIVE DEPART- 
MENT. 

The legislative power in Pennsylvania is vested by 
the constitution in a General Assembly, which consists 
of a Senate and a House of Representatives. 

The Senate. — Every ten years, following the new 
census, the state is divided by an act of the Assembly 
into fifty senatorial districts, which should have about 
the same population. 1 Each of these districts elects 2 a 

1 The constitution requires that the senatorial districts shall be " of com- 
pact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as may be." 
But partisan legislation in Pennsylvania, as in other states, constantly dis- 
regards these requirements and so apportions the state as to give the party 
in power the largest possible number of senators. This gerrymandering, 
which is even worse in the congressional apportionments in the various 
states, is one of the serious dangers confronting our government. 

2 All elective officers in Pennsylvania, whether for state or local offices, 
are chosen by the votes of the male citizens, twenty-one years of age and 
upwards and having the following qualifications : I. If of foreign birth 
they must have been naturalized at least one month before the election. 
2. They must have resided in the state for one year immediately preced- 
ing the election, or, if having previously been voters or natural-born citizens 
of the state and having removed therefrom, they must since their return 
have resided in the state at least six months immediately preceding the 
election. 3. They must have resided in the election district where they 
vote at least two months immediately preceding the election. 4. If twenty- 
two years of age or upwards, they must have paid state or county tax within 
two years of the election and at least one month previous to it. The 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. YJ 

senator for a term of four years, one-half of the mem- 
bers being elected every two years. Senators must be 
twenty-five years of age, must have been citizens of the 
state for four years, and of their respective senatorial 
districts for one year preceding their election. 

The House of Representatives. — The House of Rep- 
resentatives numbers about 200 1 members, reappor- 
tioned every ten years among the different counties in 
proportion to their population, but each county must 
have at least one representative. Representatives 
must be twenty-one years of age, and like the senators 
must have been citizens of the state for four years, and 
of their legislative districts for one year immediately 
preceding their election. 

Sessions of the General Assembly. — The General 
Assembly meets regularly but once in two years, the 
sessions being held in the odd years. They begin on 

laws also provide for the registering of voters two months or more before 
the election, but this is only intended to establish the two months' resi- 
dence in the district preceding the election, and is not a necessary pre- 
requisite. Voters who have no taxable property have their occupations 
assessed (or valued), generally at a nominal rate, and upon this they pay 
a county tax which entitles them to vote. There is no poll tax in Penn- 
sylvania, though this occupation tax is often called a poll tax. All elec- 
tions in Pennsylvania are by a plurality vote. That is, the successful 
candidate needs only the highest vote of all the candidates for his office, 
and does not need a majority of all the votes cast. All regular elections 
for state and county offices are held on the first Tuesday following the 
first Monday in November. All city, borough, and township officers are 
elected on the third Tuesday of February. 

1 The House of Representatives has as near 200 members as a fair ap- 
portionment among the counties and the allowance of at least one member 
to each county permits. For the exact method of apportionment of its 
members see Art. II., sec. 17, of the constitution. Usually the number 
is a little greater than 200. Under the present apportionment it is 204. 



1 8 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

the first Tuesday of January and continue until the two 
houses agree to adjourn, the sessions generally lasting 
about five months. The governor may call a special 
session of both houses or of the Senate alone, when he 
deems it necessary. The two houses hold their sessions 
in their respective chambers in the state capitol at Har- 
risburg, the Senate being presided over by the lieuten- 
ant-governor, and the House of Representatives by a 
speaker chosen by themselves from their own number. 
Members of the Assembly receive a salary of $1500 for 
each regular session, and of $500 for any special 
session. 

Duties of the General Assembly. Passage of Laws. 
— The chief duty of the General Assembly, or, as it is 
popularly called, the Legislature, is to make laws for 
the state. 1 In order to become a law a bill must be 
passed three times by each house, and at its third 
passage the vote must be by yeas and nays, and it 
must receive the votes of a majority of all the members 
elected to each house. If the bill is then signed by the 
governor, or is not returned with his disapproval within 
ten days, 2 it becomes a law. If the governor disap- 
proves the bill, he returns it with his objections to the 
house in which it originated. If it again passes both 
houses, and by a two-thirds yea and nay vote of all 
their members, it becomes a law in spite of the gov- 



1 Do not fail to read the prefatory note in connection with this. 

2 If the General Assembly adjourns before the ten days have expired, 
the governor has thirty days after the adjournment in which to approve or 
veto the bill. The governor has and frequently exercises the important 
right of disapproving of certain items of appropriation bills, while approv- 
ing the other items of the same bills. 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 19 

ernor's veto. Both houses have standing committees, 
to some one of which every bill is referred for consider- 
ation before being acted upon. The confirmation of all 
state officers appointed by the governor is in the hands 
of the Senate ; such confirmation requires a two-thirds 
vote of all the senators and must be considered in open 
session of the Senate. 



20 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

The Governor. His Powers and Duties. — The chief 
executive of the state is the governor, who is elected 
for four years, 1 and is ineligible to the office for the 
next succeeding term. He must be a citizen of the 
United States, thirty years of age, and must have been 
a citizen of the state for seven years preceding his elec- 
tion. It is his duty to approve or to' veto all bills passed 
by the General Assembly, to appoint many of the offi- 
cers of the commonwealth, and to execute the laws of 
the state. He is commander-in-chief of the state mili- 
tia. He has a salary of $10,000 per year and the free 
use of the governor's mansion at Harrisburg. 

The Lieutenant-Governor. — A lieutenant-governor is 
elected at the same time and for the same term as the 
governor, and he must have the same requirements. He 
presides over the sessions of the Senate, but has no vote 
there except in case of a tie. In case of the death, res- 
ignation, removal, or disability of the governor, the lieu- 
tenant-governor assumes his position and his duties. 

Other Executive Officers. — The secretary of the 
commonwealth is appointed by the governor and may 

1 He is elected in the even years, midway between the presidential 
elections. His term of office begins on the third Tuesday of January 
following his election. 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 21 

be removed by him at any time. He keeps a record of 
the official acts of the governor, and records and pub- 
lishes the acts passed by the Legislature. Through 
his office all corporations for profit 1 must receive 
their charters. The attorney-general is also appointed 
by the governor, and during his pleasure. He is 
the law officer of the commonwealth, and the legal 
adviser of the governor and the heads of depart- 
ments. He prosecutes the claims of the state and is 
its attorney in all its suits. The auditor-general is 
elected by the voters of the state for a term of three 
years. He examines and settles all accounts between 
the state and individuals or corporations. The state 
treasurer is also elected and for a term of two years. 
He is the custodian of the funds of the state. The 
secretary of internal affairs is elected at the same time 
and for the same term as the governor. He has charge 
of the land office of the state, and therefore of the 
records of the original transfers of land in the state ; 
he collects and publishes vital and industrial statistics 
of the state, as well as the reports of its railroads, 
canals, telegraph and telephone companies. The super- 
intendent of public instruction is appointed by the gov- 
ernor for a term of four years and has general supervision 
of the public schools of the state. The adjutant-general 
is appointed by the governor during his pleasure. He 
is the governor's military executive officer and, subject 
to the governor's orders, is at the head of the national 
guard in state militia. 2 

1 Corporations not for profit, such as churches, secret societies, colleges, 
hospitals, etc., are chartered by the local courts. 

2 The militia of Pennsylvania is a body of citizen soldiery, regularly 



22 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

The Pardon Board. — The governor has power to 
grant pardons, reprieves, or commutations of sentences, 
but only when they have been recommended by a 
majority of the board of pardons, which consists of 
the lieutenant-governor, the secretary of the common- 
wealth, the attorney-general, and the secretary of 
internal affairs. This is an admirable feature of the 
constitution and works well in practice. 

organized into companies in all parts of the state. They are uniformed 
and armed by the state and have weekly drills, but are paid only when 
called out into the service of the state or into annual encampment. The 
companies are organized into 15 regiments and three brigades, numbering 
more than 8000 men. They may be called upon by the governor to 
suppress insurrections or riots and to execute the laws of the state, when 
the local authorities are unable to do so. 



THE JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT. 23 



CHAPTER V. 

THE JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT. 

There are two kinds of courts in Pennsylvania, the 
county courts and the Supreme Court of the state. 

County Courts. Judges. — Every county having 40,000 
inhabitants is a separate judicial district and has a 
judge of its own ; much larger counties have two or 
more judges, 1 while the smaller counties are grouped 
into judicial districts of two or three counties each, 
with one judge for the whole district. 2 In this case 
the judge holds court at the different county seats in 
his district in turn. Judges are elected by the voters 
of their respective districts for terms of ten years. 

Juries. — Each county elects every three years two 3 

1 Philadelphia (which is a county as well as a city) has sixteen judges, 
Allegheny County has eleven, Luzerne County has four, etc. The judicial 
apportionment and the multiplication of judges are in the hands of the 
legislature and the governor. The tendency is to increase the number of 
judges unduly. 

2 Besides this judge who is " learned in the law," every county which is 
not a separate judicial district elects for five-year terms associate judges, 
who need not be, and usually are not, lawyers. These associate judges, 
being citizens of the county, are well acquainted with the people and the 
needs of the county, and are thus able to assist the president judge in 
local decisions and appointments. Occasionally a small county is 
" attached " to a larger one constituting a separate district, whose judge 
then holds court in the attached county. 

3 Although two are elected, each voter votes for but one, which usually 
results in the election of one from each of the two dominant political 
parties, as was intended. 



24 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

jury commissioners, who with the judge each year 
select citizens suitable for jury duty, the names of 
those selected being written on separate slips of paper 
and put into the jury wheel. These citizens must be 
taken from all the townships and boroughs or cities 
of the county in proportion to their voting population, 
the total number being fixed by the judge according to 
the needs of the county. At stated intervals the jury 
commissioners, together with the sheriff of the county, 
draw by lot from the jury wheel the names of those 
who are to serve on the juries during the ensuing term 
of court. The first twenty-four names drawn are the 
grand jury; then the petit jurors, and afterwards the 
traverse jurors are drawn, the numbers in the last two 
classes being fixed by the judge according to the needs 
of the term. 

Criminal Courts. — Court trials may be divided into 
criminal and civil trials. And there are two kinds of 
criminal courts. When persons are tried for lighter 
offenses, such as theft, assault and battery, etc., the 
court which tries them is called the court of quarter 
sessions. 1 But when they are tried for higher crimes 
as murder, forgery, burglary, etc., the court is called 
the court of oyer and terminer. 2 The same judge 
and the same jurors try both kinds of cases, and the 
forms of trial differ very little. The laws of the state 

1 So called because originally this court met four times per year, as it 
still does in most counties of the commonwealth. 

. 2 Its full title is the Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail 
Delivery. " Oyer and Terminer " are from the old Norman French and 
mean "to hear and determine." There is no reason except long-estab- 
lished usage for having two kinds of criminal court. 



THE JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT. 25 

designate which offenses shall be tried by one court 
and which by the other. 

Conduct of Criminal Trials. — When a person charged 
with a crime is to be tried, the indictment, or complaint 
against him, is drawn up by the district attorney and 
laid before the grand jury. Twenty-four men are 
always summoned to serve upon the grand jury, but if 
all attend, at least one of them is excused, and not more 
than twenty-three nor less than twelve may serve. 
The grand jury hears evidence against the accused in 
order to determine whether it will justify a trial. If 
twelve of the grand jury consider that the evidence does 
justify a trial, they "find a true bill," and the prisoner 
must then be tried in open court. If twelve of the 
grand jury do not concur in this decision, the "bill is 
ignored," and the prisoner is released. The ignoring 
of a bill, or indictment, by one grand jury does not 
prevent the finding of a true bill by a subsequent one 
and therefore the eventual trial of the case. 

When a true bill has been found by the grand jury, 
the trial comes off in the court room either in quar- 
ter sessions or in oyer and terminer, as the offense 
charged demands. A jury of twelve men is drawn by 
lot 1 from the petit jurors. The witnesses for and 
against the prisoners then testify, the lawyers on both 
sides argue, the judge reviews the evidence and explains 
the law in the case in a charge to the jury, which then 

1 In the selection of the jury in a criminal suit the prosecution may 
peremptorily challenge (that is, reject without giving any reason) four 
jurors ; the accused may always do the same, and when charged with one 
of the higher crimes he has twenty peremptory challenges. Either side 
may reject as many jurors for cause as the judge will allow. 



26 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

retires to deliberate upon its verdict. The jury must 
be unanimous either to convict or acquit ; if it cannot 
agree either way, the jury is discharged and the prisoner 
has a new trial. 1 If there is a conviction, the sentence is 
fixed and imposed by the judge. If the prisoner is 
acquitted, he cannot again be tried for the same offense, 
but if convicted the judge may, if he thinks justice has 
not been done, grant a new trial. 

Civil Suits. — When the right to property or other dis- 
pute must be settled by a lawsuit, the case is tried in 
the court of common pleas, which is simply a different 
name for the court when trying civil cases. Here there 
is no grand jury, but a jury of twelve men is drawn by 
lot 2 from the traverse jurors. The trial is conducted 
in much the same way as in a criminal case, and here 
too the jury must be unanimous to find a verdict. 

Other Courts. — Orphans' courts are held by the judge, 
or the judges, alone, and have jurisdiction of all pro- 
ceedings on the estates of deceased persons and minors, 
etc. 3 Argument courts are also held by the judges 
without juries, to hear and decide all legal questions 
submitted to them not requiring a jury. 

1 In trials for murder, where the punishment of death may be inflicted, 
the Supreme Court has decided that when a jury has been discharged on 
account of disagreement, the accused cannot be retried, under Art. I., sec. 
io of the Constitution. In such cases the judge usually refuses to dis- 
charge the jury until it has agreed upon some verdict. 

2 In the selection of a traverse jury twelve names are first drawn, and if 
either side desires to challenge any of these, eight more names are drawn. 
From these twenty each side may reject four, and the remaining twelve 
try the case. 

3 In counties having 150,000 inhabitants there must be separate 
orphans' courts, with their own judges, and they may also be established 
in smaller counties by special acts of the legislature. 



THE JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT. 2 J 

The Supreme Court. — The Supreme Court of Penn- 
sylvania consists of a bench of seven judges, elected 
by the people of the state for a term of twenty-one 
years and at varying intervals ; the judge who is the 
senior in office being the chief justice. For the conven- 
ience of the different sections of the state the Supreme 
Court holds sessions in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and 
Pittsburg, in turn, each year. In rare cases they have 
original jurisdiction, 1 but .their work consists almost 
wholly of hearing appeals 2 in cases which have been 
tried in the county courts. In these cases the supreme 
judges hear no evidence, but examine the evidence which 
was submitted to the lower courts and is printed in 
"paper books " for their use, and hear the arguments of 
the lawyers. The Supreme Court has no juries, the 
decisions being rendered in accordance with the opinions 
of a majority of the judges. The decision of this court 
is final 3 as to all suits under the laws and the constitu- 
tion of the state. A reporter, who is appointed by the 
governor for five years, compiles the decisions of the 
Supreme Court and superintends their publication in 
the " State Reports," for the guidance of the lower 
courts in subsequent decisions of the same questions. 

1 See Constitution, Art. V., sec. 3. 

2 Either party to a civil suit, no matter how small an amount is involved, 
who is dissatisfied with the result of the trial in the lower court, may appeal 
the case to the Supreme Court. Any criminal suit may also be appealed 
to the Supreme Court, but permission must first be had from one of 
the supreme judges, a provision which tends to prevent unnecessary 
appeals. 

3 There is a popular impression that a case can be appealed from the 
Supreme Court of the state to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
But this cannot be done, unless it can be shown that the Constitution or 
laws of the United States are involved. 



28 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Common Law. — A large part of the laws which con- 
trol the actions of courts and individuals in Pennsylvania 
and elsewhere is neither state nor national legislation, 
but is the so-called Common Law. This is a large mass 
of laws governing both criminal and civil actions, which 
were first formulated in the decisions of judges in the 
early history of England. These judges, finding no laws 
applying to many cases that came before them, decided 
them according to what they considered the principles 
of justice or according to the established customs of the 
time. These decisions, when just, were concurred in 
by other judges until there grew up in this way, without 
being passed by Parliament, a large body of laws, which 
really became the foundation of English law. As this 
common law was thoroughly established in the Ameri- 
can colonies before the Revolution, it was after their 
freedom legally adopted by all of the states, and is now 
the basis of jurisprudence in all the states of the union 1 
except Louisiana (whose laws were influenced by its 
early French domination), although special acts of the 
legislature have in many particular cases superseded the 
common law in Pennsylvania and the other states. 

Habeas Corpus. — When there is reason to believe 
that any one is unjustly confined in jail, the judge within 
whose jurisdiction the jail is situated may order the 
jail keeper to bring the prisoner before him, that he 
may look into the case. This order of the judge to the 
jail keeper is called a writ of habeas corpus, 2 and when 

1 " Blackstone," usually the first text-book put into the hands of the law 
student, is a treatise on the common law by Sir William Blackstone, a 
famous English judge, who died in 1780. 

2 The words habeas corpus are Latin, and mean " you may have the body.' : 



THE JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT. 29 

issued by a judge having proper jurisdiction, must be 
obeyed by the jail keeper except when in case of rebel- 
lion or invasion the public safety may require it to be 
disregarded. It is most commonly used when a prisoner 
has been charged with a crime so grave that the justice 
of the peace could not take bail, but could only commit 
him to jail to await his trial. The judge then fixes the 
amount of bail, if the offense is a bailable one (all of- 
fenses except capital ones are bailable), and approves the 
bail bond. Of course, if there is not sufficient evidence 
of crime to warrant a trial, the judge may release him 
altogether. The writ of habeas corpus is also used to 
secure the release of persons illegally confined in insane 
asylums or otherwise restrained, to secure to a parent 
the custody of a child of which he may be deprived, and 
in like cases. 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Terms of Office and Salaries of Principal State Officers. 

Governor 4 years. $10,000 

Lieutenant-Governor 4 years. 35°° 1 

Secretary of the Commonwealth 2 . . . Will of Governor. 5100 1 

Attorney-General 2 Will of Governor. 4000 1 

Auditor-General 3 years. 5200 1 

Treasurer 2 years. 6200 1 

Secretary of Internal Affairs .... 4 years. 4500 2 

Adjutant-General Will of Governor. 3J.00 1 

Superintendent of Public Instruction . 4 years. 4000 

Chief Justice of Supreme Court . . .21 years. 8500 

Each Jurlge of Supreme Court . . . . 21 years. 8000 

County Judges — Philadelphia. . . . 10 years. 7000 

County Judges — Allegheny Co. . . . 10 years. 6000 

County Judges — Dauphin Co 10 years. 5000 

County Judges — elsewhere 10 years. 4000 

Senators 3 4 years. 1500 

Representatives 3 2 years. 1500 

Superintendent of Banking 4 years. 4000 

Insurance Commissioner 3 years. 3000 

State Librarian 4 years. 2500 

Reporter of Supreme Court 5 years. 3000 

Secretary State Board of Agriculture . . 1 year. 2500 

Secretary State Board of Health . . . 1 year. 2000 

General Agent Board of Public Charities 1 year. 3000 

Secretary of Lunacy Commission . . . 1 year. 3000 

Superintendent of Public Printing . . 4 years. 2000 

1 This includes compensation for certain extra duties which by law 
devolve upon this officer. 

2 The salary of this officer is largely increased by fees. 

3 Senators and representatives receive regular salaries only for the years 
during which regular sessions of legislature are held. For extra sessions, 
which are seldom called, they receive $500. 



COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 31 



CHAPTER VI. 

COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 

Pennsylvania is divided into sixty-seven counties, 
varying greatly in area and population. New counties 
may be formed from parts of the old ones by legislative 
enactment, but the present constitution forbids the for- 
mation of a new county with less than 400 square miles 
of territory and with less than 20,000 inhabitants, and 
also forbids such division as would reduce the area or 
population of an old county below these limits. The 
county officers are elected 1 for terms of three years by 
the voters of the county, and must have been citizens 
and residents of the rounty for at least one year prior 
to their election. In counties having less than 150,000 
inhabitants the county officers are paid by fees, 1 which 
are fixed by law, but vary according to the services 
rendered. In the more populous counties some of these 
offices are quite lucrative. In counties having more 
than 150,000 inhabitants all county officers receive fixed 
salaries, and pay the fees collected into the state or 
county treasury. The county officers with their duties, 
etc., are as follows. 2 

1 A few exceptions will be noted under the proper offices. 

2 In many of the counties two, and sometimes more, of the county offices 
are held by the same person. Smull's Handbook (see preface) gives the 



32 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

County Commissioners. — The county commissioners 
are three in number. They correct, if necessary, the 
assessment or valuation of taxable property in the 
county, as made by the township, borough, or city as- 
sessors. They fix the rate of county tax, which with the 
state tax is collected by the township collectors. 1 They 
pay the county's bills by orders on the county treasurer. 
They erect the county buildings, 2 such as the courthouse, 
jail, almshouse, etc., as well as the larger bridges in the 
county, and attend to the county's business generally. 
They are paid $3.50 for each day spent in the duties of 
their office. 3 In the election of commissioners no person 
may vote for more than two candidates, the practical 
result of which is to allow the minority party to elect 
one of the commissioners, as was intended by the framers 
of the constitution. 

names of the officeholders in the several counties. Only general accounts 
can here be given, as in almost every county of the state the duties, fees, 
etc., of the offices are modified by special legislation. Each teacher or 
student should therefore learn from those who are familiar with it of the 
particulars of the management of these offices in his own county. This 
sort of special legislation has not been possible since the adoption of the 
present state constitution, but the special laws previously passed are still in 
force in the various counties. 

1 In some of the counties, as in Chester, special legislation makes the 
county treasurer the collector of the state and county taxes. The township 
collectors then collect for the county only the delinquent taxes, which 
have not been paid to the treasurer. 

2 The commissioners can purchase land for or build or enlarge a public 
building only after the approval of the project by two successive grand 
juries and the court of quarter sessions {i.e. of the judge or judges while 
holding a court of quarter sessions). 

3 There are a few exceptions to this, notably in Philadelphia and Alle- 
gheny counties, where they receive salaries of $5000 and $2000 per year 
respectively. 



COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 33 

County Treasurer. — The county treasurer receives 
the state and county taxes. The former he pays over to 
the state treasurer, the latter he keeps in the county 
treasury and pays such bills as are approved by the 
county commissioners. 1 He receives a certain percent- 
age on all money paid out of the county treasury, which 
percentage is fixed by the commissioners with the ap- 
proval of the auditors. 2 He also receives a percentage 
on the state tax, which passes through his hands into the 
state treasury, as well as on special taxes (liquor license 
fees, mercantile taxes, etc.) that may come into his 
hands. A county treasurer cannot be re-elected for 
three years after the expiration of his term of office. 
He gives heavy bonds for the faithful discharge of his 
duties and the accounting for the public moneys. 

Sheriff. — The sheriff is the chief executive officer of 
the county. He serves the writs (or orders) and the 
summonses ordered by the courts. 3 He suppresses 
serious disturbances and protects property, and if unable 
to do this with the aid of his deputies and citizens (any 
of whom he has the right to call upon for assistance), 
he calls upon the governor to aid him with the state 
militia. He sells property for the debts of the owner 
when execution (order to sell) has been issued by the 
court. He makes arrests — chiefly, however, such as are 
ordered by the court. He has charge of criminals dur- 
ing their trials, and delivers them to the jail or peniten- 

1 In some counties certain other officers (such as directors of the poor 
and prison inspectors) are by special legislation authorized to draw war- 
rants upon the county treasury. 

2 In many counties special legislation has fixed the fees of the county 
treasurer, and in several it gives him a fixed salary in lieu of fees. 

3 i.e. of the judges, a very common signification of court. 



34 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OE PENNSYLVANIA. 

tiary, and executes such as are condemned to death. 
In many counties (usually the smaller ones) he is the 
county jailer. Together with the jury commissioners 
he draws the juries, and he summons those whose names 
have been drawn. He gives notice by advertisements 
in the papers and by handbills of national, state, and 
county elections. He is paid by fees, fixed by law and 
varying according to the services performed. He gives 
bonds for the faithful performance of his duties, and like 
the treasurer cannot be re-elected until three years after 
the expiration of his term. 

Prothonotary. — The prothonotary is the clerk of the 
court of common pleas, and as such makes up and keeps 
the records of the court and issues its writs and sum- 
monses. During the sessions of the court he, or his 
deputy, has a desk in the courtroom near the judge, and 
besides recording the proceedings, he calls up the jurors 
and administers the oaths to them and to the witnesses. 
In most of the counties he is also clerk of the courts of 
quarter sessions and oyer and terminer, when he per- 
forms the same duties for those courts. In some of 
the counties he is clerk of the orphans' court as well. 
The prothonotary also enters (or records), in books 
provided by the county, judgments 1 and mechanics' 

1 A judgment is a confession of debt, entered of record. It may be vol- 
untarily given or may be obtained through suit brought before a justice of 
the peace or a court. Judgments are liens on the debtor's real estate, and 
take precedence in the order in which they are entered in the prothon- 
otary's office. When thus recorded, a judgment holds its place as against 
purchasers and other lien creditors for five years. To retain its place it 
must be renewed before the expiration of the five years. Judgments as re- 
corded in the prothonotary's office are open to the inspection of all who 
choose to examine them. If no interest has been paid, nor other acknowl- 



COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 35 

liens. 1 He receives and keeps records of the returns of 
all elections for national, state or county officers held in 
the county. He is paid by fees, which vary with the 
service performed. 

Clerk of the Courts. — The clerk of the courts is the 
clerk of the courts of oyer and terminer and quarter 
sessions. He is present at the sessions of these courts 
to record the proceedings and to call up and swear the 
jurors and witnesses. As clerk of the court of quarter 
sessions he has charge of the business connected with 
the laying out of roads and the granting of liquor 
licenses, both of which are under the jurisdiction of 
this court. He receives and keeps records of the re- 
turns of all elections for township, borough, and city 
officers, held in the county. He is paid by fees. 

Clerk of the Orphans' Court. — This officer keeps the 
records and issues the writs and summonses of the 
orphans' court. In most of the counties this office is 
joined to some other, generally with that of clerk of 
the courts. He too is paid by fees. 

Register of Wills. — The register of wills probates the 
wills left by citizens of the county at their death. He 
issues to the executors letters testamentary, and if no 
executors 2 have been appointed by will, he appoints 

edgment of the debt has been made for twenty years, and the judgment has 
not been revived within that time, the debt is discharged and the lien ex- 
pires. 

1 Liens filed against a building by those who have furnished labor or 
material in its construction, and for which they have not been paid. They 
must be filed within six months after the labor or material has been fur- 
nished. 

2 Executors are persons named in a will to execute the provisions of the 
will. If there is no will, administrators appointed by the register settle the 
estate according to law. 



36 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

administrators and issues to them letters of administra- 
tion. He copies the wills into books provided for the 
purpose, and keeps safely the wills themselves. He is 
paid by fees, and gives bonds for the faithful perform- 
ance of his duties. 

Recorder of Deeds. — The law requires that all deeds 
transferring real estate in the county shall be recorded 
{i.e. copied in full) in the books of the recorder of 
deeds, which books are kept in the recorder's office for 
the information of the public. Mortgages 1 are also re- 
corded in the office of the recorder of deeds. The 
recorder is also paid by fees, and gives bonds for the 
faithful performance of his duties. The offices of reg- 
ister of wills and recorder of deeds are in many counties 
united in the same person, and in a few of the smaller 
counties are consolidated with still others of the county 
offices. 

Coroner. — The coroner inquires into the cause and 
manner of the death of any person who is slain or who 
dies suddenly and under suspicious circumstances in 
the county. To aid him in the inquest he summons 
a coroner's jury of six citizens of the county. If the 
coroner's jury finds any one guilty of homicide, it is the 
coroner's duty to commit him to prison for trial. Upon 
the death or removal of sheriff, the coroner performs 
his duties until a new sheriff is appointed. The 

1 A mortgage is a pledge of real estate for the payment of money. It 
never expires nor loses its priority (which depends upon the date of its 
record as compared with judgments and other mortgages) as long as inter- 
est on it is paid or other acknowledgment of the debt is made, nor for 
twenty years thereafter. After this time a mortgage, like a judgment, is 
presumed to be paid. Mortgages are among the best and most common 
forms of investment. It is important to record them promptly. 



COUNTY GOVERNMENT. Z7 

coroner is paid by fees, but there are only a few 
counties in the state in which the income of this office 
is considerable. 

District Attorney. — The district attorney is the public 
prosecutor, who conducts the trials of persons charged 
with committing crimes. He is paid in fees by the 
county, and is necessarily a lawyer. 

County Surveyor. — The county surveyor is the 
official surveyor of the county. This office is now 
usually of little importance or profit, and is sought after 
mainly to give a surveyor prestige and thus add to his 
private business. 

Jury Commissioners. — Two jury commissioners are 
elected in each county every three years, but no person 
may vote for more than one candidate, which allows 
each of the two leading parties to elect one of these 
officers. As has been explained before (p. 24), the jury 
commissioners and the judge select persons for jury 
duty, and from the names of those thus selected the 
jury commissioners and the sheriff draw by lot those 
who are to serve upon the various juries at the different 
terms of court. Jury commissioners receive $2.50 per 
day for each day spent in the performance of the duties 
of their office. 1 

Directors of the Poor. — Formerly, as a general rule, 
each township, borough, and city supported its own 
paupers by granting them aid directly or by paying 
private individuals for their support, and each such 
district elected two overseers of the poor to attend 
to this duty. In nearly half of the counties of the 

1 In counties having from 100,000 to 150,000 inhabitants jury commis- 
sioners get a salary of $250. 



38 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

commonwealth, usually the smaller ones, this plan is 
still pursued. But when the commissioners of any- 
such county deem it wise, they may, with the approval 
of two successive grand juries and of the court (or of 
a vote of the people, if the court deems that best), pur- 
chase or erect an almshouse for the paupers of the whole 
county. Three directors of the poor are then elected 
in the county, one each year, to serve three years, who 
supersede the township overseers of the poor, and have 
control of the management of the almshouse and the 
relief of the paupers of the county. The general law 
provides that each director of the poor shall receive a 
salary of $100 per year, but this has been changed in 
many counties by special legislation. 

Mercantile Appraiser. — The county commissioners 
each year appoint a mercantile appraiser, whose duty 
it is to visit the places of business of all dealers in mer- 
chandise in the county, and to estimate the amount of 
business done by them yearly, upon which a state tax is 
paid. The appraiser receives a fee of fifty cents for visit- 
ing each such place of business and making the appraise- 
ment, as well as six cents per mile for traveling expenses. 

County Auditors. — Three auditors are elected in each 
county, but as no voter may vote for more than two of 
them, the third is elected by the minority party. They 
audit the accounts of the county commissioners, treas- 
urer, and other county officers having the disbursement 
of public funds. They see that the taxes and other dues 
are collected and accounted for, that the accounts are 
properly kept, and that no illegal payments are made. 
They receive $3 per day for the time spent at their 
work. 



COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 39 

Prison Inspectors. — Most of the county jails are in 
charge of the sheriffs, who in such cases usually live in 
the jails and are paid by the profit derived from feeding 
the prisoners at such a rate as the county commissioners 
have fixed, but in several of the counties special laws 
have put them in charge of prison inspectors, who vary 
in number in different counties, and are generally 
appointed in part by the court and in part by the 
county commissioners. They hold office for one year, 
and receive small salaries. 1 They appoint and fix the 
salaries of the wardens of the jails and their assistants, 
and make the rules which govern the conduct of the 
prisons. 

County Superintendent of Public Schools. — Along 
with the county officers we may for practical purposes 
class the county superintendent of public schools. He 
is elected every three years by the school directors of 
the county. His principal duties are to examine and 
certificate 2 teachers, to visit the public schools of the 
county, to hold an annual county teachers' institute, 
and to collect and transmit to the school department of 
the state the school statistics and reports of the county. 



1 In Chester County they receive $25 per annum. 

2 Superintendents may grant provisional certificates for one year, or to 
experienced teachers professional certificates good until one year after the 
expiration of the superintendent's term of office. Permanent certificates 
are granted by the state superintendent of public instruction to holders of 
professional certificates who pass the examinations therefor conducted by 
a board of examiners appointed by the county institute. They are valid 
for life in the county where granted and in any other county whose 
superintendent may indorse them. The diplomas and state certificates 
granted by the state normal schools are life certificates, valid in all parts of 
the state except Philadelphia. 



40 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

His salary is fixed 1 by the convention of school directors 
that elects him, but is paid out of the state treasury. 
Cities and boroughs or townships having a population 
of 5000 may elect their own superintendents. 

1 The law fixes the minimum salary at $800, $1000, or $1500 according 
to the size of the county, the number of its schools, and the length of its 
school terms, and the maximum at $2000, although the directors may go 
above the maximum with the understanding that such excess shall come 
out of the county's share of the state appropriation for its schools. 



TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT. 41 



CHAPTER VII. 
TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT. 

The counties are divided up into townships, which 
vary much in area and population, but are never of great 
size nor very populous. In New England and some- 
times in certain other parts of the country the divisions 
of the counties, instead of being called townships, are 
called towns, and are governed quite differently 1 from 
the townships in Pennsylvania. New townships may be 
created by the subdivision of old ones, when the citizens 
concerned vote to do so, such vote being ordered by the 
county court upon petition of the citizens of the pro- 
posed new township. The township is the smallest 
rural territorial division in Pennsylvania, but it pos- 
sesses most important functions of government, as the 
following list of its officers and their duties shows. 

Assessor. — Each township elects every three years an 
assessor, and at the same time two assistant assessors 

1 The distinctive feature of New England town government is the " town 
meeting," which is a public meeting of the citizens of the town, where the 
town officers are elected, and the taxes and expenditures of the town for the 
coming year are determined. This is a pure democracy, the community 
being governed directly by the people. A Pennsylvania township is a 
representative democracy, the government being by representatives of the 
people, i.e. the township officers. It is very important to remember that 
in New England the word " town " is never used in the same sense as in 
Pennsylvania, but that it always means a township, which, however, may or 
may not have in it a Pennsylvania " town " or village. 



42 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

who serve for but one year of the three. Once in three 
years the assessor and assistant assessors make a "trien- 
nial assessment," that is, they put a valuation 1 on the 
real estate and other taxable property in the township, 
which they report to the county commissioners, to whom 
(and even from them to the court) the property owners 
may appeal for redress if they believe their property has 
been assessed too high. In the intervening years the 
assessor reassesses property which has been improved 
by building, etc., and corrects the tax records when 
property changes hands. Each year the assessor calls 
upon those who have money at interest or invested in 
stocks, bonds, etc., to make a report of such invest- 
ments. 2 The assessments of real and personal property 
as thus made are those upon which all taxes laid upon 
such property are made. The assessor also prepares 
each year a list of all the voters of the township, a copy 
of which he must put on the door of the building where 
the elections are held three months before the fall elec- 
tion. Where a township is divided into two or more 
voting precincts, each precinct elects a precinct assessor 
to enroll the names of its voters ; in such cases the town- 
ship assessor (i.e. the property assessor of the whole 
township) is usually the precinct assessor in the precinct 
in which he lives. Assessors and assistant assessors 
are paid by the county and receive $2 per day for each 

1 The law requires that all property shall be assessed at its bona fide 
salable value. While in some counties this is faithfully done, in others 
property is systematically and intentionally undervalued. In a number of 
them the assessors aim to make the assessments about one-third of the real 
value of the property, and in some even less. 

2 This property is at the present time (1893) subject to a state tax of 
four mills on the dollar, but to no other tax. 



TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT. 43 

day of service, although for preparing the list of the 
voters they often receive a few cents for each name in- 
stead of the daily pay. 

Supervisors. — Every year each township elects two 1 
supervisors, whose main business is the making and re- 
pairing of the public roads and bridges of the township. 
They fix and collect a road tax upon the assessed value 
of the property in the township. This tax they expend 
upon the roads and the bridges of the township. The 
supervisors represent the township in its corporate 
capacity in all except school matters. They are paid 
generally from $i to $2 per day for the time spent upon 
the roads and a commission of five per cent for collect- 
ing the road tax. 2 

School Directors. — -Every year each township elects 
two school directors 3 to serve for three years, making 
six in all. The school directors are required by law to 
provide school facilities for all persons in the township 
between the ages of six and twenty-one years, who 

1 In some of the counties special legislation gives each township three 
or four supervisors, and in occasional townships even more. 

2 There has been much special legislation concerning the roads. In 
some places the repairing of the roads is sold at public auction for a term 
of (say three) years to the lowest bidder. It is the business of the super- 
visor to see that the repairs are properly made. In certain counties road 
commissioners and pathmasters take the place of supervisors. 

The public roads in Pennsylvania (as generally in the United States) are 
with few exceptions badly constructed and kept. This is due chiefly to 
the unwillingness of the people to pay sufficient taxes to construct them 
properly, to the incompetence of supervisors, and to the practice (still sanc- 
tioned by law) of allowing taxpayers to " work out " their road taxes. The 
importance of having better roads is being generally agitated in the state, 
and the present system is likely to speedily give way to a better one. 

3 Women are eligible to this office. This and school superintendencies 
are the only offices to which they are eligible in Pennsylvania. 



44 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

desire to attend. They build and care for the school- 
houses, employ the teachers and fix their salaries, fix 
the length of the school term (at not less than six 
months), direct what branches shall be taught, make the 
rules for the government of the schools, and supervise 
their work. Once every three years they elect a county 
superintendent of public schools. They determine the 
amount of tax to be levied for school purposes, 1 and 
have the right to borrow money for the purpose of 
erecting school buildings or purchasing grounds there- 
for. School directors receive no pay for their services. 

Overseers of the Poor. — In counties where there are 
no almshouses, each township supports its own paupers, 
and elects annually two overseers of the poor to attend 
to this duty. They fix the amount of the poor tax, and 
expend the same in the maintenance of the paupers, 
either by supporting or aiding them in their homes or 
by paying others to provide for them. To secure regu- 
lar relief the pauper must have an order signed by two 
justices of the peace. The overseers of the poor receive 
a small compensation from the poor fund. 

Collector. — Each township elects annually a collector 
of taxes, who collects the county and township taxes. 2 

1 The schools are supported partly by an appropriation from the state 
treasury, which is distributed directly to the townships in proportion to the 
number of taxables (persons paying taxes) in each township, and is ex- 
pended by the school directors. The state appropriation for schools has 
rapidly increased and is now (1893) $5>ooo,ooo per annum. The total 
amount raised by local taxation in the state is about double this, making 
the total expenditure for public schools in the commonwealth now about 
$15,000,000 per annum. 

2 As before stated, the great part of the county tax is in some counties 
collected by the county treasurer. The supervisors may either collect the 
road tax themselves or put it into the hands of the collector. 



TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT. 45 

He receives a commission on the tax collected, which 
varies from two to five per cent according to its amount 
and the difficulty of collecting it. 

Town Clerk. — The laws of the state provide for the 
election of a town clerk annually. His business is to 
act as clerk to the supervisors and to keep the township 
records, as well as a record of the stray animals that 
may be found in the township and reported to him. 
This office is now generally deemed of no importance. 
If filled at all, its incumbent has few if any duties to 
perform. 

Auditors. — Each year one township auditor is elected 
to serve three years. The three auditors once a year 
examine the accounts of the supervisors, school direc- 
tors, and other township officers who handle public 
funds. They post in conspicuous places in the town- 
ship written or printed handbills, detailing the receipts 
and expenditures of the township officers. The audi- 
tors are the taxpayers' check upon illegal and ex- 
travagant expenditures of township funds. If they 
disapprove of any expenditure, the official who made it 
must refund it to the township, although he may appeal 
to the court for redress. Auditors receive $2 per day 
for each day necessarily spent in the duties of their 
office. 

Justice of the Peace. — Each township elects two 
justices of the peace for terms of five years; frequently, 
however, but one of the two is expected to and does 
take out his commission. 1 When any person is accused 
of committing a crime, 2 the justice upon proper com- 

1 A justice of the peace must be commissioned by the governor. 

2 A justice of the peace has jurisdiction anywhere within the county, 



46 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

plaint, issues a warrant for his arrest, and when brought 
before him, if the evidence against him warrants it, he 
may for some minor offences inflict punishment by fine 
or, rarely, by imprisonment ; but generally he sends the 
case to court. For lighter crimes the justice may re- 
lease the prisoner on bail until the time of his trial by 
the court, but if he cannot find satisfactory bail he must 
await trial in jail. For grave crimes the justice must 
send the accused to jail, whence he can only be released 
by the judge through a writ of habeas corpus (see p. 28). 
Suits for debts not exceeding $300 may be brought 
before a justice of the peace, and where his decision 
involves not more than $5.33 it is final; if more than 
that, the case can be appealed to court. A justice of 
the peace also administers oaths or affirmations, ac- 
knowledges deeds and other papers, issues search 
warrants, etc. He is also authorized to perform the 
marriage ceremony. His pay is from fees paid by the 
parties interested, which fees are fixed by law. 

Constable. — Each township elects for three years a 
constable, who preserves the peace of the township, 
makes arrests upon warrants issued by justices of the 
peace, and takes persons thus arrested before the justice 
and afterwards to jail, if committed by the justice. He 
serves subpoenas upon witnesses as issued by justices, 
and summonses in civil suits when issued by the same 
officer. He makes searches of suspected premises for 
stolen goods when authorized by the justice, and seizes 
and sells debtor's property upon justice's executions. 

but not outside of it. Complaint may be made or suit brought before any 
justice in the county where the crime was committed or where the debtor 
may be found. 



TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT. 47 

He gives official notice by posters of the township 
elections and four times a year is required to attend the 
court of quarter sessions in order to report violations 
of the law of which he may have knowledge. He too is 
paid by fees, which are fixed by law. 1 

1 In addition to the officers enumerated, in certain parts of the state, 
township treasurers are elected, whose duty is, as their name implies, to 
have charge of the funds of the township. 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

BOROUGHS AND CITIES. 

How Boroughs are formed. — When the inhabitants of 
a village desire a different government from that of the 
township of which they have been a part, a majority of 
the freeholders must petition the court for incorporation 
as a borough. If the project is approved by a grand 
jury and the judge, the village becomes a borough. 
When a borough grows to considerable size, the court 
may divide it into wards. 

The Government 1 of Boroughs. — The government of 
boroughs is in the hands of a chief burgess and a town 
council, who are usually elected for two years, one- 
half of the council being elected each year. When the 
borough is not divided into wards, there usually are five 
councilmen. Where the borough is divided into wards, 
the chief burgess is elected by a vote of the whole 
borough, but each ward elects from one to three mem- 
bers of the council. The council has control of the 
streets and sidewalks, 2 of the abatement of nuisances, 
and of whatever may be prejudicial to the public health, 

1 Many boroughs had special charters from the legislature before the 
adoption of the present constitution, which causes their government to 
differ to a greater or less extent from the general plan here given. 

2 As a rule, real estate owners lay the sidewalks along their properties 
when ordered by the borough council, while the borough paves the streets. 



BOROUGHS AND CITIES. 49 

provides for the lighting of the streets, for water for 
general use, 1 for protection from fires, for the preserva- 
tion of good order by borough police if necessary. The 
chief burgess is the chief executive of the borough. 
He enforces the ordinances of the council, preserves 
the order and the peace of the borough, and has the 
jurisdiction of a justice of the peace within the borough 
so far as the order and peace of the borough are con* 
cerned. He may punish offenders by fines or short 
imprisonment. The chief burgess usually receives a 
small salary, but the other members of the council 
serve without pay. The council lays taxes for borough 
expenses and may borrow 2 money for borough improve- 
ments. 

Other Borough Officers. — The other officers of a 
borough are practically the same as those of a town- 
ship, except that a borough has no supervisors, their 
duties being absorbed into those of the council. When 
the borough is undivided into wards, there are usually 
but six school directors, as in the townships. But when 
the borough has been divided into wards, each ward 
elects from one to three school directors according to 
the desire of the citizens as confirmed by the court. 

1 The boroughs collect water rents, varying according to the amount 
used, from those using the borough water. In many boroughs, however, 
the water is supplied by private water companies. 

2 The state constitution provides that the debt of no borough, city, 
county, or township shall exceed two per cent of its assessed valuation 
without the consent of the voters thereof, and that it never shall exceed 
seven per cent thereof, except that when the debt was already as great as 
seven per cent of the valuation in 1874, when the constitution was adopted, 
an increase of three per cent of the valuation may be authorized by 
law. 



50 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



THE GOVERNMENT OF CITIES. 

Cities and How they are Formed. — When a borough's 
population reaches 10,000 or more, it may, if a majority 
of its voters so decide, become a city. This gives the 
community increased power of self-government and a 
form of government better suited to its increased popu- 
lation. In imitation of the division of the national and 
state legislative bodies, the councils are divided into 
two branches, called common and select councils. The 
select council corresponds to a senate in being the 
smaller body, and membership therein is deemed more 
honorable than in the common council. For purposes 
of legislation the cities of the state have been divided 1 
by law into three classes according to their population, 
as follows : — 



" " " second class have from 100,000 to 600,000 inhabitants. 
h a u third class " " 10,000 to 100,000 " 

Government of Cities of the Third Class. — The select 
council consists of one member elected from each ward 
for four years, one-half of the wards electing every two 
years. The common council has two members elected 
from each ward, and may have more from especially large 
wards, who are elected for two years, one-half of them 

1 This is a device on the part of the legislature to " get around " the 
provision of the constitution forbidding special legislation. Otherwise it 
would be impossible to provide such special forms of government for the 
larger cities as their peculiar conditions required. The Supreme Court has 
decided that legislation for any one or more of these classes is constitu- 
tional. 



BOROUGHS AND CITIES. 5 I 

being elected each year. Instead of a chief burgess 
there is a mayor, who is elected for four years, and can- 
not serve for two consecutive terms. City ordinances 
must be passed by both councils and be signed by the 
mayor, or, if vetoed by him, may be passed over his 
veto by a two-thirds vote of both councils. Councils 
meet once a month or oftener, and, besides making the 
borough ordinances or laws, they fix the rate for city 
taxes, and appropriate the money thus raised to the 
various needs of the city. They may also borrow 
money (see footnote on p. 49). The mayor is the 
chief executive officer of the city. He executes the or- 
dinances of councils and the laws of the state so far as 
his jurisdiction extends. He punishes offenders by fines 
or by short terms of imprisonment in the county or city 
jail. He appoints and controls the police force. The 
councilmen serve without pay, but the mayor is paid a 
salary, which is fixed by councils, and he must pay into 
the city treasury all fines which he collects. 

Other City Officers. — In all the cities of the third 
class, the people elect every two years a city treasurer 
and a controller. The latter audits all the city's 
accounts and must countersign all warrants before 
the treasurer may pay them. The councils in joint 
session elect a city solicitor, who is the legal adviser 
and attorney for the city. These three officials receive 
salaries fixed by the councils. Each ward elects two 
school directors for four year terms, one half of the 
whole number retiring every two years. These direc- 
tors [or school controllers, as they are often called] 
appoint a superintendent of schools every three years 
and the teachers annually, fix their salaries, provide 



52 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

and care for school buildings, and manage the schools 
generally. Like the directors of the townships and 
boroughs, they may assess and collect separate taxes 
for the schools, and expend the same upon them as 
authorized by the laws of the state. Each ward of the 
city elects one alderman for five years and a constable 
for three years. The alderman takes the place and has 
the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace. 

Government of the Larger Cities. 1 — Only Philadelphia 
is in the first class, and only Pittsburg and Allegheny 
are in the second class. They have mayors and two 
councils, as do the smaller cities. In Philadelphia the 
mayor, with the approval of the select council, appoints 
a director of public safety, who has charge of the 
police and fire departments ; a director of public works, 
who has charge of the streets, sewers, city water and 
gas works, etc. ; a board of health and a board of 
charities and corrections, who have charge of the 
charitable and penal institutions of the city. Any of 
these may be removed by the mayor for cause. In 
the others the directors of public safety and of public 
works, as well as the board of charities, etc., are elected 
by the councils instead of being appointed by the 
mayor, but the police magistrates are appointed by 
the mayor instead of being elected by the voters of 
the different wards, as in Philadelphia and the smaller 
cities. The school system of Philadelphia is entirely 

1 In Pennsylvania, as elsewhere in the United States, the weakest point 
in the whole system of government is in the government of its large cities. 
And here, as elsewhere, recent tendency has been towards concentrating 
greater power, and hence greater responsibility, in the hands of the mayor. 
The present government of Philadelphia is a good illustration of this ten- 
dency, and so far it has worked well in practice. 



BOROUGHS AND CITIES. 53 

separate from that of the rest of the state. The city 
judges appoint a central board of education, which 
elects the superintendent and assistant superintendents, 
provides for the certificating of teachers, and fixes their 
salaries, but the selection of teachers is in the hands of 
directors elected in each ward. In Pittsburg and Alle- 
gheny the schools are managed as in the smaller cities. 
But in the cities of both the first and second class the 
schools are supported from appropriations made by the 
councils. 



54 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER IX. 

NOMINATIONS. 

Nominations for State Offices. — When state officers 
are to be elected, each party holds a state convention 
composed of delegates * representing the members of 
that party in the different counties of the state. This 
convention is held some months before the election, 
the time and place of holding it being fixed by the 
"state committee," which is a committee of the party 
consisting of one member from each county and ap- 
pointed by the last state convention, although really 
the member of the committee for each county is sug- 
gested by the delegates from the county. The state 
convention nominates candidates for the state offices to 
be filled,- for whom the voters of the party are expected 
to vote. Once in four years the state convention also 
appoints two delegates 2 for each of the state's congress- 
men to a national convention, which nominates the 
candidates of the party for the presidency and vice- 

1 The Republican and Democratic parties send delegates to the state 
convention from each county in proportion to the vote of the party in that 
county. The minor parties, not being so closely organized, have no fixed 
number of delegates from the different counties. 

2 Only the national delegates and presidential electors who stand for 
the United States senators are really selected by the state convention. The 
others are selected by the members of the party in the different congres- 
sional districts or by the delegates from the districts, and the state conven- 
tion simply ratifies these choices. 



NOMINA TIONS. 5 5 

presidency. The state convention also nominates its 
party's candidates for presidential electors. Besides 
making nominations, the state convention adopts a plat- 
form which is supposed to embody the political views 
and policy of the party in the state. The state com- 
mittee above referred to takes charge of the party's 
campaign, acting mainly through its chairman, who is 
therefore the chief agent of his party in endeavoring 
to elect its candidates, although this chairman is not 
elected by the committee, but by the party's candidates. 
Nominations for County Offices. — Two methods of 
nominating county officers are practiced in Pennsylvania. 
Most of the counties have the "delegate system." By 
this system the voters of the party assemble * in their 
respective voting precincts at a time fixed by the rules 
of the party in the county, and select delegates to a 
county convention, the number of the delegates from 
each precinct usually depending upon the strength of 
the party vote at the last general election. These 
delegates are usually, and in some counties always, 
instructed by those who choose them to vote in the 
convention for the nomination of certain candidates for 
the offices to be filled. At the convention these dele- 
gates nominate a ticket for the support of their party at 
the coming election. The county convention also elects 
the delegates to represent the county in the state con- 

1 These and the precinct voting for candidates under the other system 
are the primary elections or the "primaries." Their conduct is now gov- 
erned by state laws, as well as by the rules of the party, in order to prevent 
fraud in connection with them. As the great majority of voters " stick " 
to their party ticket, the primaries are very important, nomination by the 
dominant party being in most cases equivalent to an election. 



56 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

vention. The other method of nomination is called the 
" Crawford County system," from the name of the 
county where it originated. By this system each voter 
of the party who attends the primaries votes directly 
for his favorite candidates for the various offices, and 
those candidates receiving the highest number of votes 
in the whole county become the nominees of their party. 
A county committee, consisting of one voter from each 
voting precinct and chosen annually by the members of 
the party in the precinct, conducts the party's cam- 
paign, acting mainly through its chairman, whom the 
committee elects from year to year. 

Nominations for Other Offices. — When several counties 
are to join in filling an office, the nominations are usu- 
ally made by the joint action of delegates from the sev- 
eral counties. Nominations for the offices in the town- 
ships and smaller boroughs are made in the meetings of 
the members of the voters of the parties. In the larger 
boroughs and cities conventions, similar to the county 
conventions, are held for this purpose. 

ELECTIONS. 

All elections in Pennsylvania, as in most of the other 
states, are now conducted under an " Australian Ballot 
Law." All national, state, and county officers are 
elected on the Tuesday following the first Monday of 
November; while all township, borough, and city of- 
ficers are elected on the third Tuesday in February. 

Election Officers. — At the February election each 
precinct elects annually one judge of elections, who of 
course generally belongs to the majority party, and two 



ELECTIONS. 57 

inspectors of elections. But as no one may vote for 
more than one inspector, each of the two leading parties 
secures one of these officers. These three officers con- 
duct the elections for the ensuing year. 

Ballots. — Only official ballots can be used, which 
for the fall elections are furnished by the county, but 
for the winter election by the township, borough, or 
city. Any party which at the preceding election polled 
three or more per cent of the total vote of state has the 
names of its nominees printed upon the tickets. Other 
candidates' names may be got upon the ticket by nom- 
ination papers, which must be signed by voters to the 
number of one-half per cent of the vote polled at the 
last state election, or for any part of the state to 
the number of three per cent of the vote last polled in 
such part of the state. Blank spaces are also left upon 
the ballots where the voter may write the names of 
candidates of his own choice. 

Voting. — Each voter : upon entering the voting 
room is furnished with an official ballot by the election 
officers ; this he takes to a " booth " or stall erected for 
the purpose, where he marks a cross opposite the names 
of the candidates for whom he desires to vote, or 
opposite the name of the party, if he wishes to vote its 
whole ticket. He may, however, write in blank spaces 
on the ticket the names of any candidates of his own 
choice. The voter must not allow any one to see how 
he has marked his ballot, although if through illiteracy 
or infirmity he is unable to mark his ballot he may 
choose another voter to assist him. After marking his 
ballot, the voter folds and hands it to the election offi- 

1 For the qualifications of voters, see note on p. 16. 



58 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

cers, who number it in the order in which it has been 
received, but to secure secrecy the officers must conceal 
the number by pasting the corner of the ballot over 
it. The number written on the ballot is also written 
opposite the voter's name on the list of voters which 
has been prepared by the assessor. This numbering 
is for the purpose of detecting any fraud in making 
the election returns. 

When the polls are closed (they being kept open from 
7 a.m. until 7 p.m.), the election officers count the votes 
and file a written report of the general elections (i.e. of 
the national, state, and county elections) with the pro- 
thonotary of the county, and of the local elections with 
the clerk of the courts. The prothonotary lays his 
returns before the judge, who computes them, examin- 
ing also into any charge of fraud, and certifies to the 
prothonotary's report thereon to the secretary of state 
at Harrisburg, whence (with one or two exceptions) 
commissions are issued to these officers by the Governor 
through the secretary of state. The clerk of the courts 
and the election officers issue certificates of election to 
the successful candidates at the local elections, except 
to justices of the peace, whose commissions also come 
from the Governor. 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



>^O^c 



PREAMBLE. 



We, the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, grateful 
to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, 
and humbly invoking His guidance, do ordain and establish this 
Constitution. 



ARTICLE I. 

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. 

That the general, great and essential principles of liberty and 
free government may be recognized and unalterably established, we 
declare that 

Sec. i. All men are born equally free and independent, and have 
certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of 
enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, 
and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own 
happiness. 

Sec. 2. All power is inherent in the people, and all free govern- 
ments are founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, 
safety and happiness. For the advancement of these ends, they 
have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, 
reform, or abolish their government in such manner as they may 
think proper. 

Sec. 3. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship 
Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences ; 
no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support any 

59 



60 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent ; 
no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere 
with the rights of conscience, and no preference shall ever be given 
by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship. 

Sec. 4. No person who acknowledges the being of a God, and a 
future state of rewards and punishments, shall, on account of his 
religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or place of 
trust or profit under this Commonwealth. 

Sec. 5. Elections shall be free and equal; and no power, civil 
or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of 
the right of suffrage. 

Sec. 6. Trial by jury shall be as heretofore, and the right thereof 
remain inviolate. 

Sec. 7. The printing press shall be free to every person who may 
undertake to examine the proceedings of the Legislature, or any 
branch of government, and no law shall ever be made to restrain 
the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opin- 
ions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may 
freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for 
the abuse of that liberty. No conviction shall be had in any pros- 
ecution for the publication of papers relating to the official conduct 
of officers or men in public capacity, or to any other matter proper 
for public investigation or information, where the fact that such 
publication was not maliciously or negligently made shall be es- 
tablished to the satisfaction of the jury ; and in all indictments for 
libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts 
under the direction of the court, as in other cases. 

Sec. 8. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers and possessions from unreasonable searches and seizures, 
and no warrant to search any place or to seize any person or things 
shall issue without describing them as nearly as may be, nor without 
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, subscribed to by 
the affiant. 

Sec. 9. In all criminal prosecutions the accused hath a right to 
be heard by himself and his counsel, to demand the nature and 
cause of the accusation against him, to meet the witnesses face to 
face, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his 
favor, and, in prosecutions by indictment or information, a speedy 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 6 1 

public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage ; he cannot be com- 
pelled to give evidence against himself, nor can he be deprived of 
his life, liberty or property, unless by the judgment of his peers or 
the law of the land. 

Sec. io. No person shall, for any indictable offense, be pro- 
ceeded against criminally by information, except in cases arising in 
the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in 
time of war or public danger, or by leave of the court, for oppres- 
sion or misdemeanor in office. No person shall, for the same of- 
fense, be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall private 
property be taken or applied to public use, without authority of law 
and without just compensation being first made or secured. 

Sec. ii. All courts shall be open, and every man for an injury 
done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have 
remedy by clue course of law, and right and justice administered 
without sale, denial or delay. Suits may be brought against the 
Commonwealth in such manner, in such courts and in such cases as 
the Legislature may by law direct. 

Sec. 12. No power of suspending laws shall be exercised unless 
by the Legislature, or by its authority. 

Sec. 13. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines 
imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted. 

Sec. 14. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, 
unless for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or presumption 
great ; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public 
safety may require it. 

Sec. 15. No commission of oyer or terminer or jail delivery shall 
be issued. 

Sec. 16. The person of a debtor, where there is not strong pre- 
sumption of fraud, shall not be continued in prison after delivering 
up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, in such manner as shall 
be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 17. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obliga- 
tion of contracts, or making irrevocable any grant of special privi- 
leges or immunities, shall be passed. 

Sec. 18. No person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the 
Legislature. 



62 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Sec. 19. No attainder shall work corruption of blood, nor, except 
during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the Common- 
wealth. The estate of such persons as shall destroy their own lives 
shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death, and if any person 
shall be killed by casualty there shall be no forfeiture by reason 
thereof. 

Sec. 20. The citizens have a right in a peaceable manner to as- 
semble together for their common good, and to apply to those in- 
vested with the powers of government for redress of grievances or 
other proper purposes, by petition, address or remonstrance. 

Sec. 21. The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of 
themselves and the State shall not be questioned. 

Sec. 22. No standing army shall, in time of peace, be kept up 
without the consent of the Legislature, and the military shall in 
all cases and at all times be in strict subordination to the civil 
power. 

Sec. 23. No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any 
house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a 
manner to be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 24. The Legislature shall not grant any title of nobility or 
hereditary distinction, nor create any office, the appointment to 
which shall be for a longer term than during good behavior. 

Sec. 25. Emigration from the State shall not be prohibited. 

Sec. 26. To guard against transgressions of the high powers 
which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this article 
is excepted out of the general powers of government and shall for- 
ever remain inviolate. 



ARTICLE II. 
THE legislature. 

Sec. 1. The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall be 
vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a 
House of Representatives. 

Sec. 2. Members of the General Assembly shall be chosen at the 
general election every second year. Their term of service shall 
begin on the first day of December next after their election. When- 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 63 

ever a vacancy shall occur in either House, the presiding officer 
thereof shall issue a writ of election to fill such vacancy for the re- 
mainder of the term. 

Sec. 3. Senators shall be elected for the term of four years, and 
Representatives for the term of two years. 

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall meet at twelve o'clock, 
noon, on the first Tuesday of January every second year, and at 
other times when convened by the Governor, but shall hold no 
adjourned annual session after the year one thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-eight. In case of a vacancy in the office of United 
States Senator from this Commonwealth, in a recess between ses- 
sions, the Governor shall convene the two Houses, by proclamation 
on notice not exceeding sixty days, to fill the same. 

Sec. 5. Senators shall be at least twenty-five years of age, and 
Representatives twenty-one years of age. They shall have been 
citizens and inhabitants of the State four years, and inhabitants of 
their respective districts one year next before their election (unless 
absent on the public business of the United States, or of this State), 
and shall reside in their respective districts during their terms of 
service. 

Sec. 6. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for 
which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office 
under this Commonwealth, and no member of Congress, or other 
person holding any office (except of attorney-at-law or in the mili- 
tia), under the United States, or this Commonwealth, shall be a 
member of either House during his continuance in office. 

Sec. 7. No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public 
moneys, bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, shall be eligible 
to the General Assembly, or capable of holding any office of trust 
or profit in this Commonwealth. 

Sec. 8. The members of the General Assembly shall receive 
such salary and mileage for regular and special sessions as shall be 
fixed by law, and no other compensation whatever, whether for 
service upon committee or otherwise. No member of either House 
shall, during the term for which he may have been elected, receive 
any increase of salary or mileage, under any law passed during such 
term. 

Sec. 9. The Senate shall, at the beginning and close of each 



64 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

regular session, and at such other times as may be necessary, elect 
one of its members President pro tempore, who shall perform the 
duties of the Lieutenant Governor, in any case of absence or disa- 
bility of that officer, and whenever the said office of Lieutenant 
Governor shall be vacant. The House of Representatives shall 
elect one of its members as Speaker. Each House shall choose 
its other officers, and shall judge of the election and qualifications 
of its members. 

Sec. io. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum, 
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the 
attendance of absent members. 

Sec. ii. Each House shall have power to determine the rules of 
its proceedings, and punish its members or other persons for con- 
tempt or disorderly behavior in its presence, to enforce obedience 
to its process, to protect its members against violence, or offers of 
bribes or private solicitation, and with the concurrence of two- 
thirds, to expel a member, but not a second time for the same 
cause, and shall have all other powers necessary for the Legislature 
of a free State. A member expelled for corruption shall not there- 
after be eligible to either House, and punishment for contempt or 
disorderly behavior shall not bar an indictment for the same offense. 

Sec. 12. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, 
and from time to time publish the same, except such parts as require 
secrecy, and the yeas and nays of the members on any question 
shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on the journal. 

Sec. 13. The sessions of each House, and of committees of the 
whole, shall be open, unless when the business is such as ought to 
be kept secret. 

Sec. 14. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, 
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that 
in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Sec. 15. The members of the General Assembly shall in all 
cases except treason, felony, violation of their oath of office, and 
breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their 
attendance at the sessions of their respective Houses and in going 
to and returning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in 
either House they shall not be questioned in any other place. 

Sec. 16. The State shall be divided into fifty Senatorial districts 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 65 

of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population 
as may be, and each district shall be entitled to elect one Senator. 
Each county containing one or more ratios of population shall be 
entitled to one Senator for each ratio, and to an additional Senator 
for a surplus of population exceeding three-fifths of a ratio, but no 
county shall form a separate district unless it shall contain four-fifths 
of a ratio, except where the adjoining counties are each entitled to 
one or more Senators, when such county may be assigned a Senator 
on less than four-fifths and exceeding one-half of a ratio ; and no 
county shall be divided unless entitled to two or more Senators. 
No city or county shall be entitled to separate representation ex- 
ceeding one-sixth of the whole number of Senators. No ward, 
borough, or township shall be divided in the formation of a district. 
The senatorial ratio shall be ascertained by dividing the whole 
population of the State by the number fifty. 

Sec. 17. The members of the House of Representatives shall be 
apportioned among the several counties, on a ratio obtained by 
dividing the population of the State, as ascertained by the most 
recent United States census, by two hundred. Every county con- 
taining less than five ratios shall have one Representative for every 
full ratio, and an additional Representative when the surplus ex- 
ceeds half a ratio ; but each county shall have at least one Repre- 
sentative. Every county containing five ratios or more shall have 
one Representative for every full ratio. Every city containing a 
population equal to a ratio shall elect separately its proportion of 
the Representatives allotted to the county in which it is located. 
Every city entitled to more than four Representatives, and every 
county having over one hundred thousand inhabitants, shall be 
divided into districts of compact and contiguous territory, each dis- 
trict to elect its proportion of Representatives according to its pop- 
ulation, but no district shall elect more than four Representatives. 

Sec. 18. The General Assembly at its first session after the 
adoption of this Constitution, and immediately after each United 
States decennial census, shall apportion the State into senatorial 
and representative districts, agreeably to the provisions of the two 
next preceding sections. 



66 CONSTITUTION OF FENNSYLVANIA. 



ARTICLE III. 

LEGISLATION. 

Sec. i. No law shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall 
be so altered or amended, on its passage through either House, as 
to change its original purpose. 

Sec. 2. No bill shall be considered unless referred to a commit- 
tee, returned therefrom, and printed for the use of the members. 

Sec. 3. No bills, except general appropriation bills, shall be 
passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly 
expressed in its title. 

Sec. 4. Every bill shall be read at length on three different 
days, in each House ; all amendments made thereto shall be printed 
for the use of the members before the final vote is taken on the bill, 
and no bill shall become a law, unless on its final passage the vote 
be taken by yeas and nays, the names of the persons voting for 
and against the same be entered on the journal, and a majority of 
the members elected to each House be recorded thereon as voting 
in its favor. 

Sec. 5. No amendments to bills by one House shall be con- 
curred in by the other, except by the vote of a majority of the 
members elected thereto taken by yeas and nays, and the names of 
those voting for and against recorded upon the journal thereof; 
and reports of committees of conference shall be adopted in either 
House only by the vote of a majority of the members elected 
thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of those voting 
recorded upon the journals. 

Sec. 6. No law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions 
thereof extended or conferred, by reference to its title only, but so 
much thereof as is revived, amended, extended, or conferred, shall 
be re-enacted, and published at length. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall not pass any local or 
special law authorizing the creation, extension, or impairing of 
liens ; regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, wards, 
boroughs, or school districts ; changing the names of persons or 
places ; changing the venue in civil or criminal cases ; authorizing 
the laying out, opening, altering, or maintaining roads, highways. 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 67 

streets, or alleys ; relating to ferries or bridges, or incorporating 
ferry or bridge companies, except for the erection of bridges cross- 
ing streams which form boundaries between this and any other 
State ; vacating roads, town plats, streets, or alleys ; relating to 
cemeteries, grave-yards, or public grounds not of the State ; author- 
izing the adoption or legitimation of children ; locating or chang- 
ing county seats ; erecting new counties, or changing county lines ; 
incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or changing their charters ; 
for the opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or changing 
the place of voting ; granting divorces ; erecting new townships or 
boroughs ; changing township lines, borough limits, or school dis- 
tricts ; creating offices, or prescribing the powers and duties of offi- 
cers in counties, cities, boroughs, townships, election, or school 
districts ; changing the law of descent or succession ; regulating 
the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in, 
any judicial proceeding or inquiry before courts, aldermen, justices 
of the peace, sheriffs, commissioners, arbitrators, auditors, masters 
in chancery, or other tribunals, or providing or changing methods 
for the collection of debts, or the enforcing of judgments, or pre- 
scribing the effect of judicial sales of real estate ; regulating the 
fees, or extending the powers and duties of aldermen, justices of 
the peace, magistrates, or constables ; regulating the management 
of public schools, the building or repairing of school-houses, and 
the raising of money for such purposes ; fixing the rate of interest ; 
affecting the estates of minors or persons under disability, except 
after due notice to all parties in interest, to be recited in the special 
enactment; remitting fines, penalties and forfeitures, or refunding 
moneys legally paid into the treasury ; exempting property from 
taxation ; regulating labor, trade, mining or manufacturing ; creat- 
ing corporations, or amending, renewing, or extending the charters 
thereof; granting to any corporation, association, or individual 
any special or exclusive privilege or immunity, or to any corpora- 
tion, association, or individual the right to lay down a railroad 
track; nor shall the General Assembly indirectly enact such 
special or local law by the partial repeal of a general law ; but 
laws repealing local or special acts may be passed ; nor shall any 
law be passed granting powers or privileges in any case where the 
granting of such powers and privileges shall have been provided 



68 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

for by general law, nor where the courts have jurisdiction to grant 
the same or give the relief asked for. 

Sec. 8. No local or special bill shall be passed unless notice of 
the intention to apply therefor shall have been published in the 
locality where the matter or the thing to be effected may be situ- 
ated, which notice shall be at least thirty days prior to the intro- 
duction into the General Assembly of such bill and in the manner 
to be provided by law ; the evidence of such notice having been 
published shall be exhibited in the General Assembly before such 
act shall be passed. 

Sec. 9. The presiding officer of each House shall, in the pres- 
ence of the House over which he presides, sign all bills and joint 
resolution passed by the General Assembly, after their titles have 
been publicly read immediately before signing ; and the fact of 
signing shall be entered on the journal. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall prescribe by law the num- 
ber, duties and compensation of the officers and employes of each 
House, and no payment shall be made from the State Treasury, or 
be in any way authorized,. to any person, except to an acting officer 
or employe elected or appointed in pursuance of law. 

Sec. 11. No bill shall be passed giving any extra compensation 
to any public officer, servant, employe, agent or contractor, after 
services shall have been rendered or contract made, nor providing 
for the payment of any claim against the Commonwealth without 
previous authority of law. 

Sec. 12. All stationery, printing paper, and fuel used in the leg- 
islative and other departments of government shall be furnished, 
and the printing, binding and distributing of the laws, journals, 
department reports, and all other printing and binding and the 
repairing and furnishing the halls and rooms used for the meetings 
of the General Assembly and its committees, shall be performed 
under contract to be given to the lowest responsible bidder below 
such maximum price and under such regulations as shall be pre- 
scribed by law ; no member or officer of any department of the 
government shall be in any way interested in such contracts, and 
all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the Governor, 
Auditor General and State Treasurer. 

Sec. 13. No law shall extend the term of any public officer, or 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 69 

increase or diminish his salary or emoluments, after his election or 
appointment. 

Sec. 14. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House 
of Representatives, but the Senate may propose amendments as in 
other bills. 

Sec. 15. The general appropriation bill shall embrace nothing 
but appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the executive, legis- 
lative and judicial departments of the Commonwealth, interest on 
the public debt and for public schools ; all other appropriations 
shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one subject. 

Sec. 16. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except upon 
appropriations made by law, and on warrant drawn by the proper 
officer in pursuance thereof. 

Sec. 17. No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or 
educational institution not under the absolute control of the Com- 
monwealth, other than normal schools established by law for the 
professional training of teachers for the public schools of the State, 
except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each 
House. 

Sec. 18. No appropriations, except for pensions or gratuities for 
military services, shall be made for charitable, educational or benev- 
olent purposes to any person or community, nor to any denomina- 
tional or sectarian institution, corporation, or association. 

Sec. 19. The General Assembly may make appropriations of 
money to institutions wherein the widows of soldiers are supported 
or assisted, or the orphans of soldiers are maintained and educated, 
but such appropriations shall be applied exclusively to the support 
of such widows and orphans. 

Sec. 20. The General Assembly shall not delegate to any special 
commission, private corporation or association, any power to make, 
supervise, or interfere with any municipal improvement, money, 
property or effects, whether held in trust, or otherwise, or to levy 
taxes or perform any municipal function whatever. 

Sec. 21. No act of the General Assembly shall limit the amount 
to be recovered for injuries resulting in death, or for injuries to 
persons or property ; and in case of death from such injuries the 
right of action shall survive, and the General Assembly shall pre- 
scribe for whose benefit such actions shall be prosecuted. No act 



70 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

shall prescribe any limitations of time within which suits may be 
brought against corporations for injuries to persons or property, or 
for other causes different from those fixed by general laws regulat- 
ing actions against natural persons, and such acts now existing are 
avoided. 

Sec. 22. No act of the General Assembly shall authorize the in- 
vestment of trust funds by executors, administrators, guardians or 
other trustees, in the bonds or stock of any private corporation, and 
such acts now existing are avoided, saving investments heretofore 
made. 

Sec. 23. The power to change the venue in civil and criminal 
cases shall be vested in the courts, to be exercised in such manner 
as shall be provided by law. 

Sec. 24. No obligation or liability of any railroad or other cor- 
poration, held or owned by the Commonwealth, shall ever be ex- 
changed, transferred, remitted, postponed, or in any way diminished 
by the General Assembly, nor shall such liability or obligation be 
released, except by payment thereof into the State treasury. 

Sec. 25. When the General Assembly shall be convened in 
special session there shall be no legislation upon subjects other than 
those designated in the proclamation of the Governor calling such 
session. 

Sec. 26. Every order, resolution or vote, to which the concur- 
rence of both Houses may be necessary, (except on the question of 
adjournment,) shall be presented to the Governor, and, before it 
shall take effect, be approved by him, or, being disapproved, shall be 
re-passed by two-thirds of both Houses, according to the rules and 
limitations prescribed in case of a bill. 

Sec. 27. No State office shall be continued or created for the 
inspection or measuring of any merchandise, manufacture, or com- 
modity, but any county or municipality may appoint such officers 
when authorized by law. 

Sec. 28. No law changing the location of the capital of the 
State shall be valid, until the same shall have been submitted to the 
qualified electors of the Commonwealth, at a general election, and 
ratified and approved by them. 

Sec. 29. A member of the General Assembly who shall solicit, 
demand, or receive or consent to receive, directly or indirectly, for 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. ?I 

himself or for another, from any company, corporation or person, 
any money, office, appointment, employment, testimonial, reward, 
thing of value, or enjoyment, or of personal advantage, or promise 
thereof, for his vote, or official influence, or for withholding the 
same, or with an understanding, expressed or implied, that his vote 
or official action shall be, in any way, influenced thereby, or who 
shall solicit, or demand any such money, or other advantage, mat- 
ter, or thing aforesaid for another, as the consideration of his vote 
or official influence, or for withholding the same, or shall give, or 
withhold his vote or influence, in consideration of the payment or 
promise of such money, advantage, matter or thing to another, 
shall be held guilty of bribery within the meaning of this Constitu- 
tion, and shall incur the disabilities provided thereby for said of- 
fense, and such additional punishment as is or shall be provided by 
law. 

Sec. 30. Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, offer, give, 
or promise, any money or thing of value, testimonial, privilege or 
personal advantage, to any executive or judicial officer, or member 
of the General Assembly, to influence him in the performance of any 
of his public or official duties, shall be guilty of bribery, and be pun- 
ished in such manner as shall be provided by law. 

Sec. 31. The offense of corrupt solicitation of members of the 
General Assembly, or of public officers of the State, or of any mu- 
nicipal division thereof, and any occupation, or practice of solicita- 
tion, of such members or officers, to influence their official action, 
shall be defined by law, and shall be punished by fine and imprison- 
ment. 

Sec. 32. Any person may be compelled to testify in any lawful 
investigation, or judicial proceeding, against any person, who may 
be charged with having committed the offense of bribery or corrupt 
solicitation, or practices of solicitation, and shall not be permitted 
to withhold his testimony upon the ground that it may criminate 
himself, or subject him to public infamy ; but such testimony shall 
not afterwards be used against him in any judicial proceeding, 
except for perjury in giving such testimony ; and any person con- 
victed of either of the offenses aforesaid shall, as part of the punish- 
ment therefor, be disqualified from holding any office or position of 
honor, trust, or profit in this Commonwealth. 



J 2 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Sec. 33. A member who has a personal or private interest in any 
measure or bill proposed or pending before the General Assembly, 
shall disclose the fact to the House of which he is a member, and 
shall not vote thereon. 



ARTICLE IV. 

THE EXECUTIVE. 

Sec. i. The executive department of this Commonwealth shall 
consist of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth, Attorney General, Auditor General, State Treasurer, 
Secretary of Internal Affairs, and a Superintendent of Public In- 
struction. 

Sec. 2. The supreme executive power shall be vested in the Gov- 
ernor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed ; he 
shall be chosen on the day of the general election, by the qualified 
electors of the Commonwealth, at the places where they shall vote 
for Representatives. The returns of every election for Governor 
shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government, di- 
rected to the President of the Senate, who shall open and publish 
them in the presence of the members of both Houses of the Gen- 
eral Assembly. The person having the highest number of votes 
shall be Governor; but if two or more be equal and highest in 
votes, one of them shall be chosen Governor by the joint vote of 
the members of both Houses. Contested elections shall be deter- 
mined by a committee, to be selected from both Houses of the 
General Assembly, and formed and regulated in such manner as 
shall be directed by law. 

Sec. 3. The Governor shall hold his office during four years, 
from the third Tuesday of January next ensuing his election, and 
shall not be eligible to the office for the next succeeding term. 

Sec. 4. A Lieutenant Governor shall be chosen at the same 
time, in the same manner, for the same term, and subject to the 
same provisions as the Governor ; he shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. 

Sec. 5. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor or 
Lieutenant Governor, except a citizen of the United States, who 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 73 

shall have attained the age of thirty years, and have been seven 
years next preceding his election an inhabitant of the State, unless 
he shall have been absent on the public business of the United 
States or of this State. 

Sec. 6. No member of Congress, or person holding any office 
under the United States or this State, shall exercise the office of 
Governor or Lieutenant Governor. 

Sec. 7. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy of the Commonwealth, and of the militia, except when 
they shall be called into the actual service of the United States. 

Sec. 8. He shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and 
consent of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate, appoint a 
Secretary of the Commonwealth and an Attorney General during 
pleasure, a Superintendent of Public Instruction for four years, and 
such other officers of the Commonwealth as he is or may be author- 
ized by the Constitution or by law to appoint ; he shall have power 
to fill all vacancies that may happen in offices to which he may 
appoint, during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions 
which shall expire at the end of their next session ; he shall have 
power to fill any vacancy that may happen, during the recess of the 
Senate, in the office of Auditor General, State Treasurer, Secretary 
of Internal Affairs, or Superintendent of Public Instruction, in a 
judicial office, or in any other elective office which he is or may be 
authorized to fill ; if the vacancy shall happen during the session of 
the Senate, the Governor shall nominate to the Senate, before their 
final adjournment, a proper person to fill said vacancy ; but in any 
such case of vacancy, in an elective office, a person shall be chosen 
to said office at the next general election, unless the vacancy 
shall happen within three calendar months immediately preceding 
such election, in which case the election for said office shall be at 
the second succeeding general election. In acting on executive 
nominations the Senate shall sit with open doors, and, in confirm- 
ing or rejecting the nominations of the Governor, the vote shall be 
taken by yeas and nays, and shall be entered on the journal. 

Sec. 9. He shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures, to 
grant reprieves, commutations of sentences and pardons, except in 
cases of impeachment ; but no pardon shall be granted nor sentence 
commuted, except upon the recommendation, in writing, of the 



74 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Attorney 
General and Secretary of Internal Affairs, or any three of them, 
after full hearing, upon due public notice and in open session ; and 
such recommendation, with the reasons therefor at length, shall be 
recorded and filed in the office of the Secretary of the Common- 
wealth. 

Sec. io. He may require information, in writing, from the offi- 
cers of the executive department, upon any subject relating to the 
duties of their respective offices. 

Sec. ii. . He shall, from time to time, give to the General 
Assembly information of the state of the Commonwealth, and 
recommend to their consideration such measures as he may judge 
expedient. 

Sec. 12. He may on extraordinary occasions, convene the Gen- 
eral Assembly ; and in case of disagreement between the two 
Houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn them to 
such time as he shall think proper, not exceeding four months. He 
shall have power to convene the Senate in extraordinary session by 
proclamation, for the transaction of executive business. 

Sec. 13. In case of the death, conviction or impeachment, fail- 
ure to qualify, resignation, or other disability of the Governor, the 
powers, duties and emoluments of the office, for the remainder of 
the term, or until the disability be removed, shall devolve upon the 
Lieutenant Governor. 

Sec. 14. In case of a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, or when the Lieutenant Governor shall be impeached by the 
House of Representatives, or shall be unable to exercise the duties 
of his office, the powers, duties and emoluments thereof for the 
remainder of the term, or until the disability be removed, shall 
devolve upon the President pro tempore of the Senate ; and the 
President pro tempore of the Senate shall in like manner become 
Governor if a vacancy or disability shall occur in the office of 
Governor ; his seat as Senator shall become vacant whenever he 
shall become Governor, and shall be filled by election as any other 
vacancy in the Senate. 

Sec. 15. Every bill which shall have passed both Houses shall 
be presented to the Governor ; if he approve he shall sign it ; but if 
he shall not approve he shall return it, with his objections, to the 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 7$ 

House in which it shall have originated, which House shall enter 
the objections at large upon their journal and proceed to reconsider 
it. If, after such re-consideration, two-thirds of all the members 
elected to that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent 
with the objections, to the other House, by which likewise it shall 
be re-considered, and if approved by two-thirds of all the members 
elected to that House, it shall be a law ; but in such cases the votes 
of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the 
names of the members voting for and against the bill shall be en- 
tered on the journals of each House respectively. If any bill shall 
not be returned by the Governor within ten days after it shall have 
been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as 
if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly, by their adjourn- 
ment prevent its return ; in which case it shall be a law, unless he 
shall file the same with his objections, in the office of the Secretary 
of the Commonwealth, and give notice thereof by public proclama- 
tion within thirty days after such adjournment. 

Sec. 16. The Governor shall have power to disapprove of any 
item or items of any bill making appropriations of money, embrac- 
ing distinct items, and the part or parts of the bill approved shall 
be the law, and the item or items of appropriations disapproved 
shall be void, unless re-passed according to the rules and limita- 
tions prescribed for the passage of other bills over the executive 
veto. 

Sec. 17. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside 
upon the trial of any contested election of Governor or Lieutenant 
Governor, and shall decide questions regarding the admissibility 
of evidence, and shall, upon request of the committee, pronounce 
his opinion upon other questions of law involved in the trial. The 
Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall exercise the duties of 
their respective offices until their successors shall be duly qualified. 

Sec. 18. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall keep a rec- 
ord of all official acts and proceedings of the Governor, and when 
required, lay the same, with all papers, minutes and vouchers re- 
lating thereto, before either branch of the General Assembly, and 
perform such other duties as may be enjoined upon him by law. 

Sec. 19. The Secretary of Internal Affairs shall exercise all the 
powers, and perform all the duties of the Surveyor General, subject 



76 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

to such changes as shall be made by law. His department shall 
embrace a bureau of industrial statistics, and he shall discharge 
such duties relating to corporations, to the charitable institutions, 
the agricultural, manufacturing, mining, mineral, timber and other 
material or business interests of the State as may be prescribed by 
law. He shall annually, and at such other times as may be required 
by law, make report to the General Assembly. 

Sec. 20. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall exercise 
all the powers and perform all the duties of the Superintendent of 
Common Schools, subject to such changes as shall be made by law. 

Sec. 21. The term of the Secretary of Internal Affairs shall be 
four years ; of the Auditor General three years, and of the State 
Treasurer two years. These officers shall be chosen by the. quali- 
fied electors of the State at general elections. No person elected 
to the office of Auditor General or State Treasurer shall be capable 
of holding the same office for two consecutive terms. 

Sec. 22. The present Great Seal of Pennsylvania shall be the 
seal of the State. All commissions shall be in the name and by 
authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and be sealed with 
the State seal, and signed by the Governor. 



ARTICLE V. 

THE JUDICIARY. 

Sec. i. The judicial power of this Commonwealth shall be vested 
in a Supreme Court, in courts of common pleas, courts of oyer and 
terminer and general jail delivery, courts of quarter sessions of 
the peace, orphans' courts, magistrates 1 courts, and in such other 
courts as the General Assembly may from time to time establish. 

Sec. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of seven judges, who 
shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State at large. They 
shall hold their offices for the term of twenty-one years, if they so 
long behave themselves well, but shall not be again eligible. The 
judge whose commission shall first expire shall be chief justice, and 
thereafter each judge whose commission shall first expire shall in 
turn be chief justice. 

Sec. 3. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court shall extend over 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 7J 

the State, and the judges thereof shall, by virtue of their offices, 
be justices of oyer and terminer and general jail delivery in the 
several counties ; they shall have original jurisdiction in cases of 
injunction where a corporation is a party defendant, of habeas cor- 
pus, of mandamus to courts of inferior jurisdiction, and of quo 
warranto as to all officers of the Commonwealth whose jurisdiction 
extends over the State, but shall not exercise any other original 
jurisdiction ; they shall have appellate jurisdiction by appeal, cer- 
tiorari, or writ of error in all cases, as is now or may hereafter be 
provided by law. 

Sec. 4. Until otherwise directed by law, the courts of common 
pleas shall continue as at present established, except as herein 
changed ; not more than four counties shall, at any time, be included 
in one judicial district organized for said courts. 

Sec. 5. Whenever a county shall contain forty thousand inhabi- 
tants it shall constitute a separate judicial district, and shall elect 
one judge learned in the law ; and the General Assembly shall 
provide for additional judges, as the business of the said districts 
may require. Counties containing a population less than is suffi- 
cient to constitute separate districts shall be formed into conven- 
ient single districts, or, if necessary, may be attached to contiguous 
districts as the General Assembly may provide. The office of 
associate judge, not learned in the law, is abolished in counties 
forming separate districts ; but the several associate judges in office 
when this Constitution shall be adopted shall serve for their unex- 
pired terms. 

Sec. 6. In the counties of Philadelphia and Allegheny all the 
jurisdiction and powers now vested in the district courts of com- 
mon pleas, subject to such changes as may be made by this Consti- 
tution or by law, shall be, in Philadelphia, vested in four, and in 
Allegheny in two, distinct and separate courts of equal and coordi- 
nate jurisdiction, composed of three judges each ; the said courts 
in Philadelphia shall be designated respectively as the court of 
common pleas number one, number two, number three, and num- 
ber four, and in Allegheny as the court of common pleas number 
one and number two, but the number of said courts may be by 
law increased, from time to time, and shall be in like manner desig- 
nated by successive numbers ; the number of judges in any of said 



?8 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

courts, or in any county where the establishment of an additional 
court may be authorized by law, may be increased from time to 
time, and whenever such increase shall amount in the whole to three, 
such three judges shall compose a distinct and separate court as 
aforesaid, which shall be numbered as aforesaid. In Philadelphia, 
all suits shall be instituted in the said courts of common pleas with- 
out designating the number of said court, and the several courts 
shall distribute and apportion the business among them in such 
manner as shall be provided by rules of court, and each court to 
which any suit shall be thus assigned, shall have exclusive juris- 
diction thereof, subject to change of venue, as shall be provided by 
law. In Allegheny each court shall have exclusive jurisdiction 
of all proceedings at law and in equity, commenced therein, subject 
to change of venue, as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 7. For Philadelphia there shall be one prothonotary's office 
and one prothonotary for all said courts, to be appointed by the 
judges of said courts, and to hold office for three years, subject to 
removal by a majority of the said judges ; the said prothonotary 
shall appoint such assistants as may be necessary and authorized 
by said courts ; and he and his assistants shall receive fixed salaries, 
to be determined by law and paid by said county ; all fees collected 
in said office, except such as may be by law due to the Common- 
wealth, shall be paid by the prothonotary into the county treasury. 
Each court shall have its separate dockets, except the judgment 
docket, which shall contain the judgments and liens of all the said 
courts, as is or may be directed by law. 

Sec. 8. The said courts in the counties of Philadelphia and 
Allegheny, respectively, shall, from time to time, in turn, detail one 
or more of their judges to hold the courts of oyer and terminer and 
the courts of quarter sessions of the peace of said counties, in such 
manner as may be directed by law. 

Sec. 9. Judges of the courts of common pleas learned in the law 
shall be judges of the courts of oyer and terminer, quarter sessions 
of the peace, and general jail delivery, and of the orphans 1 court, 
and within their respective districts, shall be justices of the peace 
as to criminal matters. 

Sec. 10. The judges of the courts of common pleas, within their 
respective counties shall have power to issue writs of certiorari to 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 79 

justices of the peace, and other inferior courts, not of record, and 
to cause their proceedings to be brought before them, and right 
and justice to be done. 

Sec. 11. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, 
justices of the peace, or aldermen, shall be elected in the several 
wards, districts, boroughs and townships at the time of the election 
of constables by the qualified electors thereof, in such manner as 
shall be directed by law, and shall be commissioned by the Gov- 
ernor for a term of five years. No township, ward, district or bor- 
ough shall elect more than two justices of the peace or aldermen, 
without the consent of a majority of the qualified electors within 
such township, ward or borough ; no person shall be elected to 
such office unless he shall have resided within the township, bor- 
ough, ward or district for one year next preceding his election. In 
cities containing over fifty thousand inhabitants not more than one 
alderman shall be elected in each ward or district. 

Sec. 12. In Philadelphia there shall be established, for each 
thirty thousand inhabitants, one court, not of record, of police and 
civil causes, with jurisdiction not exceeding one hundred dollars ; 
such courts shall be held by magistrates whose term of office shall 
be five years, and they shall be elected on general ticket by the 
qualified voters at large ; and in the election of the said magistrates 
no voter shall vote for more than two-thirds of the number of per- 
sons to be elected when more than one are to be chosen ; they 
shall be compensated only by fixed salaries, to be paid by said 
county ; and shall exercise such jurisdiction, civil and criminal, 
except as herein provided, as is now exercised by aldermen, subject 
to such changes, not involving an increase of civil jurisdiction or 
conferring political duties, as may be made by law. In Philadelphia 
the office of aldermen is abolished. 

Sec. 13. All fees, fines and penalties in said courts shall be paid 
into the county treasury. 

Sec. 14. In all cases of summary conviction in this Common- 
wealth, or of judgment in suit for a penalty before a magistrate or 
court not of record, either party may appeal to such court of record, 
as may be prescribed by law, upon allowance of the appellate court, 
or judge thereof, upon cause shown. 

Sec. 15. All judges required to be learned in the law, except the 



80 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

judges of the Supreme Court, shall be elected by the qualified elec- 
tors of the respective districts over which they are to preside, and 
shall hold their offices for the period of ten years, if they shall so 
long behave themselves well ; but for any reasonable cause, which 
shall not be sufficient ground for impeachment, the Governor may 
remove any of them on the address of two-thirds of each House of 
the General Assembly. 

Sec. 16. Whenever two judges of the Supreme Court are to be 
chosen for the same term of service, each voter shall vote for one 
only, and when three are to be chosen he shall vote for no more 
than two ; candidates highest in vote shall be declared elected. 

Sec. 17. Should any two or more judges of the Supreme Court, 
or any two or more judges of the court of common pleas for the 
same district, be elected at the same time, they shall, as soon after 
the election as convenient, cast lots for priority of commission, and 
certify the result to the Governor, who shall issue their commissions 
in accordance therewith. 

Sec. 18. The judges of the Supreme Court and the judges of the 
several courts of common pleas, and all other judges required to be 
learned in the law, shall, at stated times, receive for their services 
an adequate compensation, which shall be fixed by law, and paid 
by the State. They shall receive no other compensation, fees or 
perquisites of office for their services from any source, nor hold any 
other office of profit under the United States, this State, or any 
other State. 

Sec. 19. The judges of the Supreme Court, during their con- 
tinuance in office, shall reside within this Commonwealth, and the 
other judges during their continuance in office shall reside within 
the districts for which they shall be respectively elected. 

Sec. 20. The several courts of common pleas, besides the 
powers, herein conferred, shall have and exercise within their 
respective districts, subject to such changes as may be made by 
law, such chancery powers as are now vested by law in the several 
courts of common pleas of this Commonwealth, or as may hereafter 
be conferred upon them by law. 

Sec. 21- No duties shall be imposed by law upon the Supreme 
Court or any of the judges thereof except such as are judicial, nor 
shall any of the judges exercise any power of appointment except 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 8 1 

as herein provided. The court of nisi ftrius is hereby abolished, 
and no court of original jurisdiction to be presided over by any one 
or more of the judges of the Supreme Court shall be established. 

Sec. 22. In every county wherein the population shall exceed 
one hundred and fifty thousand, the General Assembly shall, and 
in any other county may, establish a separate orphans 1 court, to 
consist of one or more judges who shall be learned in the law, 
which court shall exercise all the jurisdiction and powers now 
vested in or which may hereafter be conferred upon the orphans 1 
courts, and thereupon the jurisdiction of the judges of the court of 
common pleas within such county, in orphans 1 court proceedings, 
shall cease and determine. In any county in which a separate 
orphans 1 court shall be established, the register of wills shall be 
clerk of such court and subject to its directions, in all matters per- 
taining to his office ; he may appoint assistant clerks, but only with 
the consent and approval of said court. All accounts filed with 
him as register or as clerk of the said separate orphans 1 court, 
shall be audited by the court without expense to parties, except 
where all parties in interest in a pending proceeding shall nominate 
an auditor whom the court may, in its discretion, appoint. In 
every county orphans 1 courts shall possess all the powers and 
jurisdiction of a registers 1 court, and separate registers 1 courts are 
hereby abolished. 

Sec. 23. The style of all process shall be "The Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania.' 1 All prosecutions shall be carried on in the name 
and by the authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and 
conclude "against the peace and dignity of the same. 11 

Sec. 24. In all cases of felonious homicide, and in such other 
criminal cases as may be provided for by law, the accused, after 
conviction and sentence, may remove the indictment, record, and 
all proceedings to the Supreme Court for review. 

Sec. 25. Any vacancy happening by death, resignation, or other- 
wise, in any court of record, shall be filled by appointment by the 
Governor, to continue till the first Monday of January next succeed- 
ing the first general election, which shall occur three or more months 
after the happening of such vacancy. 

Sec. 26. All laws relating to courts shall be general, and of 
uniform operations, and the organization, jurisdiction, and powers 



82 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

of all courts of the same class or grade, so far as regulated by law, 
and the force and effect of the process and judgments of such courts 
shall be uniform ; and the General Assembly is hereby prohibited 
from creating other courts to exercise the powers vested by this 
Constitution in the judges of the courts of common pleas and 
orphans' courts. 

Sec. 27. The parties by agreement filed, may in any civil case 
dispense with trial by jury, and submit the decision of such case to 
the court having jurisdiction thereof, and such court shall hear and 
determine the same ; and the judgment thereon shall be subject to 



ARTICLE VI. 

IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE. 

Sec. i . The House of Representatives shall have the sole power 
of impeachment. 

Sec. 2. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When 
sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be upon oath or affirma- 
tion. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of 
two-thirds of the members present. 

Sec. 3. The Governor, and all other civil officers, shall be liable 
to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office ; but judgment in 
such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office, and 
disqualification to hold any office of trust or profit under this Com- 
monwealth ; the person accused, whether convicted or acquitted, 
shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and 
punishment, according to law. 

Sec. 4. All officers shall hold their offices on the condition that 
they behave themselves well while in office, and shall be removed 
on conviction of misbehavior in office, or of any infamous crime. 
Appointed officers, other than judges of the courts of record and 
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, may be removed at the 
pleasure of the power by which they shall have been appointed. 
All officers elected by the people, except Governor, Lieutenant 
Governor, members of the General Assembly, and judges of the 
courts of record learned in the law, shall be removed by the Gov- 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 83 

ernor for reasonable cause, after due notice and full hearing, on the 
address of two-thirds of the Senate. 



ARTICLE VII. 

OATH OF OFFICE. 

Sec. i. Senators and Representatives, and all judicial, State, 
and county officers, shall, before entering on the duties of their 
respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirma- 
tion : 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, obey, and 
defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution 
of this Commonwealth, and that I will discharge the duties of my 
office with fidelity ; that I have not paid or contributed, or promised 
to pay or contribute, either directly or indirectly, any money or other 
valuable thing, to procure my nomination or election (or appoint- 
ment), except for necessary and proper expenses expressly author- 
ized by law ; that I have not knowingly violated any election law of 
this Commonwealth, or procured it to be done by others in my behalf; 
that I will not knowingly receive, directly or indirectly, any moneys 
or other valuable thing for the performance or non-performance of 
any act or duty pertaining to my office, other than the compensation 
allowed by law." 

The foregoing oath shall be administered by some person author- 
ized to administer oaths, and in the case of State officers and judges 
of the Supreme Court, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of 
the Commonwealth, and in the case of other judicial and county of- 
ficers, in the office of the prothonotary of the county in which the 
same is taken ; any person refusing to take said oath or affirmation 
shall forfeit his office, and any person who shall be convicted of hav- 
ing sworn or affirmed falsely, or of having violated said oath or af- 
firmation, shall be guilty of perjury, and be forever disqualified from 
holding any office of trust or profit within this Commonwealth. 
The oath to the members of the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives shall be administered by one of the judges of the Supreme 
Court or of a court of common pleas, learned in the law, in the hall 
of the House to which the members shall be elected. 



84 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



ARTICLE VIII. 



SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS. 



Sec. i . Every male citizen twenty-one years of age possessing 
the following qualifications shall be entitled to vote at all elections : 
First. He shall have been a citizen of the United States at least 
one month. Second. He shall have resided in the State one year 
(or if, having previously been a qualified elector or native born 
citizen of the State, he shall have removed therefrom and returned, 
then six months) immediately preceding the election. Third. He 
shall have resided in the election district where he shall offer to 
vote at least two months immediately preceding the election. 
Fourth. If twenty-two years of age or upwards he shall have paid 
within two years a State or county tax, which shall have been as- 
sessed at least two months and paid at least one month before the 
election. 

Sec. 2. The general election shall be held annually on the Tues- 
day next following the first Monday of November, but the General 
Assembly may by law fix a different day, two-thirds of all the mem- 
bers of each House consenting thereto. 

Sec. 3. All elections for city, ward, borough and township offi- 
cers, for regular terms of service, shall be held on the third Tuesday 
of February. 

Sec. 4. All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot. Every 
ballot voted shall be numbered in the order in which it shall be re- 
ceived, and the number recorded by the election officers on the list 
of voters, opposite the name of the elector who presents the ballot. 
Any elector may write his name upon his ticket, or cause the same 
to be written thereon .and attested by a citizen of the district. The 
election officers shall be sworn or affirmed not to disclose how any 
elector shall have voted unless required to do so as witnesses in a 
judicial proceeding. 

Sec. 5. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony and 
breach or surety of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their 
attendance on elections, and going to and returning therefrom. 

Sec. 6. Whenever any of the qualified electors of this Common- 
wealth shall be in actual military service, under a requisition from 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 85 

the President of the United States, or by the authority of this Com- 
monwealth, such electors may exercise the right of suffrage in all 
elections by the citizens, under such regulations as are, or shall be, 
prescribed by law, as fully as if they were present at their usual 
places of election. 

Sec. 7. All laws regulating the holding of elections by the citi- 
zens or for the registration of electors shall be uniform throughout 
the State, but no elector shall be deprived of the privilege of voting 
by reason of his name not being registered. 

Sec. 8. Any person who shall give, or promise or offer to give, 
to an elector, any money, reward or other valuable consideration 
for his vote at an election, or for withholding the same, or who 
shall give or promise to give such consideration to any other person 
or party for such elector's vote or for the withholding thereof, and 
any elector who shall receive or agree to receive, for himself or for 
another, any money, reward or other valuable consideration for his 
vote at an election, or for withholding the same, shall thereby 
forfeit the right to vote at such election, and any elector whose 
right to vote shall be challenged for such cause before the election 
officers, shall be required to swear or affirm that the matter of the 
challenge is untrue before his vote shall be received. 

Sec. 9. Any person who shall, while a candidate for office, be 
guilty of bribery, fraud or wilful violation of any election law, shall 
be forever disqualified from holding an office of trust or profit in 
this Commonwealth ; and any person convicted of wilful violation 
of the election laws shall, in addition to any penalties provided by 
law, be deprived of the right of suffrage absolutely for a term of 
four years. 

Sec. 10. In trials of contested elections and in proceedings for 
the investigation of elections, no person shall be permitted to with- 
hold his testimony upon the ground that it may criminate himself 
or subject him to public infamy ; but such testimony shall not 
afterwards be used against him in any judicial proceeding except 
for perjury in giving such testimony. 

Sec. 11. Townships and wards of cities or boroughs, shall 
form or be divided into election districts of compact and contiguous 
territory, in such manner as the court of quarter sessions of the city 
or county in which the same are located may direct ; but districts 



86 CONSTITUTION- OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

in cities of over one hundred thousand inhabitants shall be divided 
by the courts of quarter sessions, having jurisdiction therein, when- 
ever at the next preceding election more than two hundred and 
fifty votes shall have been polled therein ; and other election dis- 
tricts whenever the court of the proper county shall be of opinion 
that the convenience of the electors and the public interests will be 
promoted thereby. 

Sec. 12. All elections by persons in a representative capacity 
shall be viva voce. 

Sec. 13. For the purpose of voting no person shall be deemed 
to have gained a residence by reason of his presence, or lost it by 
reason of his absence, while employed in the service, either civil or 
military, of this State or of the United States, nor while engaged in 
the navigation of the waters of the State or of the United States, or 
on the high seas, nor while a student of any institution of learning, 
nor while kept in any poor-house or other asylum at public ex- 
pense, nor while confined in public prison. 

Sec. 14. District election boards shall consist of a judge and 
two inspectors, who shall be chosen annually by the citizens. Each 
elector shall have the right to vote for the judge and one inspector, 
and each inspector shall appoint one clerk. The first election board 
for any new district shall be selected, and vacancies in election 
boards filled as shall be provided by law. Election officers shall be 
privileged from arrest upon days of election, and while engaged in 
making up and transmitting returns, except upon warrant of court 
of record, or judge thereof, for an election fraud, for felony, or for 
wanton breach of the peace. In cities they may claim exemption 
from jury duty during their terms of service. 

Sec. 15. No person shall be qualified to serve as an election 
officer who shall hold, or shall within two months have held, an 
office, appointment, or employment in or under the government of 
the United States or of this State, or of any city or county, or of 
any municipal board, commission, or trust in any city, save only 
justices of the peace, and aldermen, notaries public, and persons in 
the militia service of the State; nor shall any election officer be 
eligible to any civil office to be filled at an election at which he 
shall serve, save only to such subordinate municipal or local officers, 
below the grade of city or county officers, as shall be designated by 
general law. 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 87 

Sec. 16. The courts of common pleas of the several counties of 
the Commonwealth shall have power, within their respective juris- 
dictions, to appoint overseers of election to supervise the proceed- 
ings of election officers, and to make report to the court as may be 
required ; such appointments to be made for any district in a city or 
county upon petition of five citizens, lawful voters of such election 
districts, setting forth that such appointment is a reasonable pre- 
caution to secure the purity and fairness of elections ; overseers 
shall be two in number for an election district, shall be residents 
therein, and shall be persons qualified to serve upon election 
boards, and in each case members of different political parties. 
Whenever the members of an election board shall differ in opinion, 
the overseers, if they shall be agreed thereon, shall decide the 
question of difference ; in appointing overseers of election, all the 
law judges of the proper court, able to act at the time, shall concur 
in the appointments made. 

Sec. 17. The trial and determination of contested elections of 
electors of President and Vice President, members of the General 
Assembly, and of all public officers, whether State, judicial, mu- 
nicipal, or local, shall be by the courts of law, or by one or more 
of the law judges thereof, the General Assembly shall, by general 
law, designate the courts and judges by whom the several classes 
of election contests shall be tried, and regulate the manner of trial, 
and all matters incident thereto ; but no such law assigning juris- 
iction, or regulating its exercise, shall apply to any contest arising 
out of an election held before its passage. 



ARTICLE IX. 

TAXATION AND FINANCE. 

Sec. i. All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of sub- 
jects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, 
and shall be levied and collected under general laws; but the 
General Assembly may, by general laws, exempt from taxation 
public property used for public purposes, actual places of religious 
worship, places of burial not used or held for private or corporate 
profit, and institutions of a purely public charity. 



88 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Sec. 2. All laws exempting property from taxation, other than 
the property above enumerated, shall be void. 

Sec. 3. The power to tax corporations and corporate property 
shall not be surrendered or suspended by any contract or grant to 
which the State shall be a party. 

Sec. 4. No debt shall be created by or on behalf of the State, 
except to supply casual deficiencies of revenue, repel invasions, 
suppress insurrection, defend the State in war, or to pay existing 
debt ; and the debt created to supply deficiencies in revenue shall 
never exceed, in the aggregate at any one time, one million of 
dollars. 

Sec. 5. All laws authorizing the borrowing of money by and on 
behalf of the State, shall specify the purpose for which the money 
is to be used, and the money so borrowed shall be used for the 
purpose specified, and no other. 

Sec. 6. The credit of the Commonwealth shall not be pledged 
or loaned to any individual, company, corporation or association, 
nor shall the Commonwealth become a joint-owner or stockholder 
in any company, association or corporation. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall not authorize any county, 
city, borough, township or incorporated district to become a stock- 
holder in any company, association or corporation, or to obtain or 
appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to, any corporation, 
association, institution or individual. s 

Sec. 8. The debt of any county, city, borough, township, school 
district or other municipality or incorporated district, except as 
herein provided, shall never exceed seven per centum upon the 
assessed value of the taxable property therein, nor shall any such 
municipality or district incur any new debt, or increase its indebt- 
edness to an amount exceeding two per centum upon such assessed 
valuation of property, without the assent of the electors thereof at 
a public election in such manner as shall be provided by law ; but 
any city, the debt of which now exceeds seven per centum of such 
assessed valuation, may be authorized by law to increase the same 
three per centum, in the aggregate at any one time, upon such 
valuation. 

Sec. 9. The Commonwealth shall not assume the debt, or any 
part thereof, of any city, county, borough or township, unless such 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 89 

debt shall have been contracted to enable the State to repel inva- 
sion, suppress domestic insurrection, defend itself in time of war, 
or to assist the State in the discharge of any portion of its present 
indebtedness. 

Sec. 10. Any county, township, school district or other munici- 
pality, incurring any indebtedness, shall, at or before the time of 
so doing, provide for the collection of an annual tax, sufficient to 
pay the interest, and also the principal thereof within thirty years. 

Sec. 11. To provide for the payment of the present State debt, 
and any additional debt contracted as aforesaid, the General As- 
sembly shall continue and maintain the sinking fund sufficient to 
pay the accruing interest on such debt, and annually to reduce the 
principal thereof by a sum not less than two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars ; the said sinking fund shall consist of the pro- 
ceeds of the sales of the public works, or any part thereof, and of 
the income or proceeds of the sale of any stocks owned by the Com- 
monwealth, together with other funds and resources that may be 
designated by law, and shall be increased from time to time by 
assigning to it any part of the taxes, or other revenues of the State, 
not required for the ordinary and current expenses of government ; 
and unless in case of war, invasion or insurrection, no part of the 
said sinking fund shall be used or applied otherwise than in the 
extinguishment of the public debt. 

Sec. 12. The moneys of the State, over and above the necessary 
reserve, shall be used in the payment of the debt of the State, either 
directly or through the sinking fund, and the moneys of the sinking 
fund shall never be invested in or loaned upon the security of any- 
thing, except the bonds of the United States, or of this State. 

Sec. 13. The moneys held as necessary reserve shall be limited 
by law to the amount required for current expenses, and shall be 
secured and kept as may be provided by law. Monthly statements 
shall be published, showing the amount of such moneys, where the 
same are deposited and how secured. 

Sec. 14. The making of profit out of the public moneys, or using 
the same for any purpose not authorized by law, by any officer of 
the State, or member or officer of the General Assembly, shall be a 
misdemeanor, and shall be punished as may be provided by law, 
but part of such punishment shall be disqualification to hold office 
for a period of not less than five years. 



90 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



ARTICLE X. 

EDUCATION. 

Sec. i . The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance 
and support of a thorough and efficient system of public schools, 
wherein all the children of this Commonwealth, above the age of 
six years, maybe educated, and shall appropriate at least one million 
dollars each year for that purpose. 

Sec. 2. No money raised for the support of the public schools 
of the Commonwealth, shall be appropriated to, or used for, the 
support of any sectarian school. 

Sec. 3. Women twenty-one years of age and upwards shall be 
eligible to any office of control or management under the school 
laws of this State. 

ARTICLE XI. 

MILITIA. 

Sec. 1. The freemen of this Commonwealth shall be armed, 
organized and disciplined for its defense, when, and in such manner 
as may be directed by law. The General Assembly shall provide 
for maintaining the militia, by appropriations from the Treasury of 
the Commonwealth, and may exempt from military service persons 
having conscientious scruples against bearing arms. 

ARTICLE XII. 

PUBLIC OFFICERS. 

Sec. i. All officers, whose selection is not provided for in this 
Constitution, shall be elected or appointed, as may be directed by 
law. 

Sec. 2. No member of Congress from this State, nor any person 
holding or exercising any office or appointment of trust or profit 
under the United States, shall at the same time hold or exercise any 
office in this State to which a salary, fees or perquisites shall be 
attached. The General Assembly may by law declare what offices 
are incompatible. 



CONSTITUTION- OF PENNSYLVANIA. 9 1 

Sec. 3. Any person who shall fight a duel, or send a challenge 
for that purpose, or be aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be 
deprived of the right of holding any office of honor or profit in this 
State, and maybe otherwise punished as shall be prescribed by law. 



ARTICLE XIII. 

NEW COUNTIES. 

Sec. i. No new county shall be established which shall reduce 
any county to less than four hundred square miles, or to less than 
twenty thousand inhabitants, nor shall any county be formed of less 
area, or containing a less population ; nor shall any line thereof 
pass within ten miles of the county seat of any county proposed to 
be divided. 

ARTICLE XIV. 
COUNTY officers. 

Sec. 1. County officers shall consist of sheriffs, coroners, pro- 
thonotaries, registers of wills, recorder of deeds, commissioners, 
treasurers, surveyors, auditors or controllers, clerks of the courts, 
district attorneys, and such others as may from time to time be 
established by law ; and no sheriff or treasurer shall be eligible for 
the term next succeeding the one for which he may be elected. 

Sec. 2. County officers shall be elected at the general elections, 
and shall hold their offices for the term of three years beginning on 
the first Monday of January next after their election, and until their 
successors shall be duly qualified ; all vacancies not otherwise pro- 
vided for, shall be filled in such manner as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be appointed to any office within any 
county, who shall not have been a citizen and an inhabitant therein 
one year next before his appointment, if the county shall have been 
so long erected, but if it shall not have been so long erected, then 
within the limits of the county or counties out of which it shall 
have been taken. 

Sec. 4. Prothonotaries, clerks of the courts, recorders of deeds, 
registers of wills, county surveyors, and sheriffs, shall keep their of- 



92 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

fices in the county town of the county in which they respectively 
shall be officers. y 

Sec. 5. The compensation of county officers shall be regulated 
by law, and all county officers who are or may be salaried shall pay 
all fees which they may be authorized to receive, into the treasury 
of the county or State, as may be directed by law. In counties con- 
taining over one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants all county 
officers shall be paid by salary, and the salary of any such officer 
and his clerks, heretofore paid by fees, shall not exceed the a™ re - 
gate amount of fees earned during his term and collected by oTfor 
him. 

Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the strict 
accountability of all county, township and borough officers, as well 
as for the fees which may be collected by them, as for all public or 
municipal moneys which may be paid to them. 

Sec. 7. Three county commissioners and three county auditors 
shall be elected in each county where such officers are chosen, in the 
year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five and every third 
year thereafter; and in the election of said officers each qualified 
elector shall vote for no more than two persons, and the three per- 
sons having the highest number of votes shall be elected ; any casual 
vacancy in the office of county commissioner or county auditor shall 
be filled by the court of common pleas of the county in which such 
vacancy shall occur, by the appointment of an elector of the proper 
county who shall have voted for the commissioner or auditor whose 
place is to be filled. 

ARTICLE XV. 

CITIES AND CITV CHARTERS. 

Sec i. Cities may be chartered whenever a majority of the elec- 
tors of any town or borough having a population of at least ten thou- 
sand shall vote at any general election in favor of the same. 

Sec. 2. No debt shall be contracted or liability incurred by any 
municipal commission, except in pursuance of an appropriation pre- 
viously made therefor by the municipal government. 

Sec. 3. Every city shall create a sinking fund, which shall be 
inviolably pledged for the payment of its funded debt. 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 93 

ARTICLE XVI. 

PRIVATE CORPORATIONS. 

Sec. i. All existing charters, or grants of special or exclusive 
privileges, under which a bona fide organization shall not have 
taken place and business been commenced in good faith, at the 
time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall thereafter have no 
validity. 

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall not remit the forfeiture of 
the charter of any corporation now existing, or alter or amend the 
same, or pass any other general or special law for the benefit of 
such corporation, except upon the condition that such corporation 
shall thereafter hold its charter subject to the provisions of this Con- 
stitution. 

Sec. 3. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never 
be abridged or so construed as to prevent the General Assembly from 
taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies, and 
subjecting them to public use, the same as the property of individ- 
uals ; and the exercise of the police power of the State shall never 
be abridged or so construed as to permit corporations to conduct 
their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of in- 
dividuals or the general well-being of the State. 

Sec. 4. In all elections for directors or managers of a corporation 
each member or shareholder may cast the whole number of his votes 
for one candidate, or distribute them upon two or more candidates, 
as he may prefer. 

Sec. 5. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this 
State without having one or more known places of business and an 
authorized agent or agents in the same upon whom process may be 
served. 

Sec. 6. No corporation shall engage in any business other than 
that expressly authorized in its charter, nor shall it take or hold any 
real estate except such as may be necessary and proper for its legiti- 
mate business. 

Sec. 7. No corporation shall issue stocks or bonds except for 
money, labor done, or money or property actually received ; and all 
fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock 



94 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

and indebtedness of corporations shall not be increased except in 
pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons 
holding the larger amount in value of the stock first obtained at 
a meeting to be held after sixty days 1 notice given in pursuance of 
law. 

Sec. 8. Municipal and other corporations and individuals in- 
vested with the privilege of taking private property for public use 
shall make just compensation for property taken, injured or de- 
stroyed by the construction or enlargement of their works, highways 
or improvements, which compensation shall be paid or secured be- 
fore such taking, injury or destruction. The General Assembly is 
hereby prohibited from depriving any person of an appeal from 
any preliminary assessment of damages against any such corpo- 
rations or individuals made by viewers or otherwise ; and the amount 
of such damages in all cases of appeal shall, on the demand of either 
party, be determined by a jury, according to the course of the com- 
mon law. 

Sec. 9. Every banking law shall provide for the registry and 
countersigning, by an officer of the State, of all notes or bills 
designed for circulation, and that ample security to the full amount 
thereof shall be deposited with the Auditor General for the redemp- 
tion of such notes or bills. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall have the power to alter, 
revoke or annul any charter of incorporation now existing and revo- 
cable at the adoption of this Constitution, or any that may here- 
after be created, whenever, in their opinion it may be injurious to 
the citizens of this Commonwealth, in such manner, however, that 
no injustice shall be done to the corporators. No law hereafter 
enacted shall create, renew or extend the charter of more than one 
corporation. 

Sec 11. No corporate body to possess banking and discounting 
privileges shall be created or organized in pursuance of any law 
without three months 1 previous public notice, at the place of the 
intended location, of the intention to apply for such privileges, in 
such manner as shall be prescribed by law, nor shall a charter for 
such privilege be granted for a longer period than twenty years. 

Sec. 12. Any association or corporation, organized for the pur- 
pose, or any individual, shall have the right to construct and main- 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 95 

tain lines of telegraph within this State, and to connect the same 
with other lines, and the General Assembly shall, by general law 
of uniform operation, provide reasonable regulations to give full 
effect to this section. No telegraph company shall consolidate 
with, or hold a controlling interest in, the stock or bonds of any 
other telegraph company owning a competing line or acquire, by 
purchase or otherwise, any other competing line of telegraph. 

Sec. 13. The term " corporations, " as used in this article, shall 
be construed to include all joint stock companies or associations 
having any of the powers, or privileges of corporations, not pos- 
sessed by individuals or partnerships. 



ARTICLE XVII. 

RAILROADS AND CANALS. 

Sec. i. All railroads and canals shall be public highways, and 
all railroad and canal companies shall be common carriers. Any 
association or corporation, organized for the purpose, shall have 
the right to construct and operate a railroad between any points 
within this State, and to connect at the State line with railroads of 
other States. Every railroad company shall have the right with 
its road to intersect, connect with, or cross, any other railroad ; and 
shall receive and transport each the other's passengers, tonnage, and 
cars, loaded or empty, without delay or discrimination. 

Sec. 2. Every railroad and canal corporation organized in this 
State, shall maintain an office therein, where transfers of its stock 
shall be made, and where its books shall be kept for inspection by 
any stockholder or creditor of such corporation, in which shall be 
recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, or paid in, and 
by whom, the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts 
owned by them, respectively, the transfers of said stock, and the 
names and places of residence of its officers. 

Sec. 3. All individuals, associations, and corporations shall 
have equal right to have persons and property transported over 
railroads and canals, and no undue or unreasonable discrimination 
shall be made "in charges for, or in facilities for, transportation of 
freight or passengers within this State, or coming from or going to 



96 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

any other State. Persons and property transported over any rail- 
road, shall be delivered at any station, at charges not exceeding 
the charges for transportation of persons and property of the same 
class, in the same direction, to any more distant station ; but 
excursion and commutation tickets may be issued at special 
rates. 

Sec. 4. No railroad, canal or other corporation, or the lessees, 
purchasers, or managers of any railroad or canal corporation, shall 
consolidate the stock, property, or franchises of such corporation 
with, or lease or purchase the works, or franchises of, or in any way 
control any other railroad or canal corporation, owning, or having 
under its control, a parallel or competing line ; nor shall any officer 
of such railroad or canal corporation act as an officer of any other 
railroad or canal corporation, owning, or having the control of a 
parallel or competing line ; and the question whether railroads or 
canals are parallel or competing lines shall, when demanded by the 
party complainant, be decided by a jury as in other civil issues. 

Sec. 5. No incorporated company doing the business of a com- 
mon carrier shall, directly or indirectly, prosecute or engage in 
mining or manufacturing articles for transportation over its works ; 
nor shall such company, directly or indirectly, engage in any other 
business than that of common carriers, or hold or acquire lands, 
freehold or leasehold, directly or indirectly, except such as shall be 
necessary for carrying on its business ; but any mining or manu- 
facturing company may carry the products of its mines and 
manufactories on its railroad or canal not exceeding fifty miles in 
length. 

Sec. 6. No president, director, officer, agent, or employe of any 
railroad or canal company shall be interested, directly or indirectly, 
in the furnishing of material or supplies to such company, or in 
the business of transportation as a common carrier of freight or 
passengers over the works owned, leased, controlled, or worked by 
such company. 

Sec. 7. No discrimination in charges or facilities for transporta- 
tion shall be made between transportation companies and indi- 
viduals, or in favor of either, by abatement, drawback, or otherwise, 
and no railroad or canal company, or any lessee, manager, or 
employe thereof, shall make any preferences in furnishing cars or 
motive power. 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 97 

Sec. 8. No railroad, railway, or other transportation company 
shall grant free passes, or passes at a discount, to any person except 
officers or employes of the company. 

Sec. 9. No street passenger railway shall be constructed within 
the limits of any city, borough or township, without the consent of 
its local authorities. 

Sec. 10. No railroad, canal or other transportation company, in 
existence at the time of the adoption of this article, shall have the 
benefit of any future legislation by general or special laws, except 
on condition of complete acceptance of all the provisions of this 
article. 

Sec. 11. The existing powers and duties of the Auditor General 
in regard to railroads, canals and other transportation companies, 
except as to their accounts, are hereby transferred to the Secretary 
of Internal Affairs, who shall have a general supervision over them, 
subject to such regulations and alterations as shall be provided by 
law ; and in addition to the annual reports now required to be 
made, said Secretary may require special reports at any time upon 
any subject relating to the business of said companies from any 
officer or officers thereof. 

Sec. 12. The General Assembly shall enforce by appropriate 
legislation the provisions of this article. 



ARTICLE XVIII. 

FUTURE AMENDMENTS. 

Sec. I. Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution 
may be proposed in the Senate or House of Representatives ; and 
if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected 
to each House, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be 
entered on their journals with the yeas and nays taken thereon, 
and the Secretary of the Commonwealth shall cause the same to be 
published three months before the next general election, in at least 
two newspapers in every county in which such newspapers shall be 
published ; and if, in the General Assembly next afterwards chosen, 
such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by 
a majority of the members elected to each House, the Secretary 



98 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA, 

of the Commonwealth shall cause the same again to be published 
in the manner aforesaid ; and such proposed amendment or amend- 
ments shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the State in 
such manner and at such time, at least three months after being so 
agreed to by the two Houses, as the General Assembly shall pre- 
scribe ; and, if such amendment or amendments shall be approved 
by a majority of those voting thereon, such amendment or amend- 
ments shall become a part of the Constitution ; but no amendment 
or amendments shall be submitted oftener than once in five years. 
When two or more amendments shall be submitted they shall be 
voted upon separately. 



SCHEDULE. 

That no inconvenience may arise from the changes in the Con- 
stitution of the Commonwealth, and in order to carry the same into 
complete operation, it is hereby declared, that : 

Sec. i. This Constitution shall take effect on the first day of 
January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, 
for all purposes not otherwise provided for therein. 

Sec. 2. All laws in force in this Commonwealth at the time of 
the adoption of this Constitution not inconsistent therewith, and 
all rights, actions, prosecutions and contracts shall continue as if 
this Constitution had not been adopted. 

Sec. 3. At the general election in the years one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-four and one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-five, Senators shall be elected in all districts where there 
shall be vacancies. Those elected in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-four shall serve for two years, and those 
elected in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five 
shall serve for one year. Senators now elected and those whose 
terms are unexpired shall represent the districts in which they reside 
until the end of the terms for which they were elected. 

Sec. 4. At the general election in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-six, Senators shall be elected from even 
numbered districts to serve for two years, and from odd numbered 
districts to serve for four years. 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 99 

Sec. 5. The first election of Governor under this Constitution 
shall be at the general election in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-five, when a Governor shall be elected for 
three years ; and the term of the Governor elected in the year one 
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, and of those thereafter 
elected, shall be four years, according to the provisions of this 
Constitution. 

Sec. 6. At the general election in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-four, a Lieutenant Governor shall be elected 
according to the provisions of this Constitution. 

Sec. 7. The Secretary of Internal Affairs shall be elected at the 
first general election after the adoption of this Constitution ; and, 
when the said officer shall be duly elected and qualified, the office 
of Surveyor General shall be abolished. The Surveyor General 
in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
continue in office until the expiration of the term for which he was 
elected. 

Sec. 8. When the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be 
duly qualified, the office of Superintendent of Common Schools 
shall cease. 

Sec. 9. Nothing contained in this Constitution shall be con- 
strued to render any person now holding any State office for a first 
official term, ineligible for reelection at the end of such term. 

Sec. 10. The judges of the Supreme Court in office when this 
Constitution shall take effect, shall continue until their commissions 
severally expire. Two judges, in addition to the number now 
composing the said court, shall be elected at the first general 
election after the adoption of this Constitution. 

Sec. 11. All courts of record, and all existing courts which are 
not specified in this Constitution, shall continue in existence until 
the first day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-five, without abridgment of their present jurisdiction, 
but no longer. The court of first criminal jurisdiction for the 
counties of Schuylkill, Lebanon and Dauphin, is hereby abolished, 
and all causes and proceedings pending therein in the county of 
Schuylkill shall be tried and disposed of in the courts of oyer and 
terminer and quarter sessions of the peace of said county. 

Sec. 12. The registers 1 courts now in existence shall be abolished 



100 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

on the first day of January next succeeding the adoption of this 
Constitution. 

Sec. 13. The General Assembly shall, at the next session after 
the adoption of this Constitution, designate the several judicial dis- 
tricts, as required by this Constitution. The judges in commission 
when such designation shall be made, shall continue during their 
unexpired terms judges of the new districts in which they reside ; 
but, when there shall be two judges residing in the same district, 
the president judge shall elect to which district he shall be assigned, 
and the additional law judge shall be assigned to the other district. 

Sec. 14. The General Assembly shall, at the next succeeding 
session after each decennial census, and not oftener, designate the 
several judicial districts, as required by this Constitution. 

Sec. 15. Judges learned in the law of any court of record, hold- 
ing commissions in force at the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
hold their respective offices until the expiration of the terms for 
which they were commissioned, and until their successors shall be 
duly qualified. The Governor shall commission the president 
judge of the court of first criminal jurisdiction for the counties of 
Schuylkill, Lebanon and Dauphin, as a judge of the court of com- 
mon pleas of Schuylkill county, for the unexpired term of his office. 

Sec. 16. After the expiration of the term of any president judge 
of any court of common pleas, in commission at the adoption of 
this Constitution, the judge of such court learned in the law and 
oldest in commission shall be the president judge thereof; and 
when two or more judges are elected at the same time in any judi- 
cial district, they shall decide by lot which shall be president judge ; 
but when the president judge of a court shall be reelected he shall 
continue to be president judge of that court. Associate judges not 
learned in the law, elected after the adoption of this Constitution, 
shall be commissioned to hold their offices for the term of five years 
from the first day of January next after their election. 

Sec. 17. The General Assembly, at the first session after the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall fix and determine the compensa- 
tion of the judges of the Supreme Court and of the judges of the 
several judicial districts of the Commonwealth ; and the provisions 
of the thirteenth section of the article on legislation shall not be 
deemed inconsistent herewith. Nothing contained in this Consti- 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 1 01 

tution shall be held to reduce the compensation now paid to any 
law judge of this Commonwealth now in commission. 

Sec. i 8. The courts of common pleas in the counties of Phila- 
delphia and Allegheny shall be composed of the present judges of 
the district court and court of common pleas of said counties until 
their offices shall severally end, and of such other judges as may 
from time to time be selected. For the purpose of first organiza- 
tion in Philadelphia, the judges of the court number one, shall be 
Judges Allison, Pierce and Paxson ; of the court number two, Judges 
Hare, Mitchell and one other judge, to be elected ; of the court 
number three, Judges Ludlow, Finletter and Lynd ; and of the court 
number four, Judges Thayer, Briggs and one other judge, to be 
elected. The judge first named shall be the president judge of said 
courts respectively, and thereafter the president judge shall be the 
judge oldest in commission ; but any president judge reelected in 
the same court or district shall continue to be president judge 
thereof. The additional judges for courts numbers two and four 
shall be voted for and elected at the first general election after the 
adoption of this Constitution, in the same manner as the two addi- 
tional judges of the Supreme Court, and they shall decide by lot 
to which court they shall belong. Their term of office shall com- 
mence on the first Monday of January, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and seventy-five. 

Sec. 19. In the county of Allegheny, for the purpose of first 
organization under this Constitution, the judges of the court of 
common pleas, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
be the judges of the court number one, and the judges of the district 
court, at the same date, shall be the judges of -the common pleas 
number two. The president judges of the common pleas and dis- 
trict court shall be president judge of said courts number one and 
two, respectively, until their offices shall end ; and thereafter the 
judge oldest in commission shall be president judge ; but any pres- 
ident judge reelected in the same court or district shall continue to 
be president judge thereof. 

Sec. 20. The organization of the courts of common pleas under 
this Constitution for the counties of Philadelphia and Allegheny 
shall take effect on the first Monday of January, one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-five, and existing courts in said counties shall 



102 CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

continue with their present powers and jurisdictions until that date, 
but no new suits shall be instituted in the courts of nisi prius after 
the adoption of this Constitution. 

Sec. 21. The causes and proceedings pending in the court of 
nisi priiis, court of common pleas and district court, in Philadelphia, 
shall be tried and disposed of in the court of common pleas. The 
records and dockets of said courts shall be transferred to the pro- 
thonotary's office of said county. 

Sec. 22. The causes and proceedings pending in the court of 
common pleas, in the county of Allegheny, shall be tried and dis- 
posed of in the court number one ; and the causes and proceedings 
pending in the district court shall be tried and disposed of in the 
court number two. 

Sec. 23. The prothonotary of the court of common pleas of 
Philadelphia, shall be first appointed by the judges of said court, on 
the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hun- 
dred and seventy-five, and the present prothonotary of the district 
court, in said county, shall be the prothonotary of the said court of 
common pleas until said date, when his commission shall expire ; 
and the present clerk of the court of oyer and terminer and quarter 
sessions of the peace, in Philadelphia, shall be the clerk of such 
court until the expiration of his present commission, on the first 
Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-five. 

Sec. 24. In cities containing over fifty thousand inhabitants, 
except Philadelphia, all aldermen in office at the time of the adop- 
tion of this Constitution, shall continue in office until the expiration 
of their commissions ; and at the election for city and ward officers, 
in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, one alder- 
man shall be elected in each ward, as provided in this Constitution. 

Sec. 25. In Philadelphia, magistrates, in lieu of aldermen, shall 
be chosen, as required in this Constitution, at the election, in said 
city, for city and ward officers, in the year one thousand eight hun- 
dred and seventy-five ; their term of office shall commence on the 
first Monday of April succeeding their election. The terms of 
office of aldermen, in said city, holding, or entitled to, commissions, 
at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall not be affected 
thereby. 



CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 103 

Sec. 26. All persons in office in this Commonwealth, at the time 
of the adoption of this Constitution, and at the first election under 
it, shall hold their respective offices until the term for which they 
have been elected, or appointed, shall expire, and until their suc- 
cessors shall be duly qualified, unless otherwise provided in this 
Constitution. 

Sec. 27. The seventh article of this Constitution, prescribing an 
oath of office, shall take effect on and after the first day of January, 
one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. 

Sec. 28. The terms of office of county commissioners and county 
auditors, chosen prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-five, which shall not have expired before the first Monday 
of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, 
shall expire on that day. 

Sec. 29. All State, county, city, ward, borough and township 
officers, in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, 
whose compensation is not provided for by salaries alone, shall con- 
tinue to receive the compensation allowed them by law until the 
expiration of their respective terms of office. 

Sec. 30. All State and judicial officers heretofore elected, sworn, 
affirmed or in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall 
severally, within one month after such adoption, take and subscribe 
an oath or affirmation to support this Constitution. 

Sec. 31 . The General Assembly, at its first session, or as soon as 
may be, after the adoption of this Constitution, shall pass such laws 
as may be necessary to carry the same into full force and effect. 

Sec. 32. The ordinance passed by this Convention, entitled " An 
ordinance for submitting the amended Constitution of Pennsylvania 
to a vote of the electors thereof," shall be held to be valid for all the 
purposes thereof. 

Sec. 33. The words "county commissioners," wherever used in 
this Constitution and in any ordinance accompanying the same, 
shall be held to include the commissioners for the city of Phila- 
delphia. 



INDEX 



Adjutant-general, appointed by gov- 
ernor, 21 ; holds office at pleasure 
of governor, 21 ; duties of, 21 ; pay 
of, 30. 

Amendments to the constitution, 15, 
97 (sec. 1). 

Appropriation bills, partial veto allow- 
able, 75 (sec. 16). 

Appropriations to charitable institu- 
tions not under control of the state 
forbidden, except by a two-thirds 
vote, 69 (sec. 17) ; to sectarian in- 
stitutions prohibited, 69 (sec. 18). 

Assessor, 41. 

Arms, right of people to bear, not to be 
questioned, 62 (sec. 21) ; persons 
having conscientious scruples against 
bearing, exempt from, 90 (art. 11). 

Army, standing, not to be kept, 62 (sec. 
22). 

Arrest, members of legislature privi- 
leged from, 64 (sec. 15). 

Assembly, General, 16,62-65; sessions 
of, 17, 63 (sec. 4) ; duties of, 18, 62 
(sec, 1). 

Associate judges, 23 ; abolished in 
counties forming separate judicial 
districts, 77 (sec. 5). 

Attainder of treason or felony not to be 
caused, 61 (sec. 18). 

Attorney-general, appointed by gov- 
ernor, 21, 73 (sec. 8) ; duties of, 21; 
member of board of pardons, 22, 73 
(sec. 9) ; holds office at pleasure of 
governor, 21, 73 (sec. 8) ; pay of, 
3°- 



Auditor-general, election and term of 
office, 21, 76 (sec. 21) ; cannot suc- 
ceed himself, 76 (sec. 21) ; duties of, 
21 ; pay of, 30. 

Australian ballot, 56-58. 

Bail, excessive, not to be required, 61 
(sec. 13). 

Banks, charters of, limited to twenty 
years, 94 (sec. 11). 

Bills, passage of, 18, 66 (sec. 4), 74 
(sec. 15). 

Boroughs, how formed, 48 ; how gov- 
erned, 48 ; formerly much special 
legislation for, 48 ; special legislation 
for now forbidden, 66 (sec. 7). 

Bribery, candidates for office guilty of, 
disqualified, 71 (sec. 32), 85 (sec. 9) ; 
definition of, 70 (art. 29) . 

Capital offenses not bailable, 61 (sec. 
14). 

Chief burgess, 48. 

Cities, how formed, 50, 92 (sec. 1) ; 
classes of, 50 ; government of smaller 
cities, 50 ; government of larger cities, 
52 ; special legislation for, prohibited, 
66 (sec. 7). 

Citizens, right of, to assemble, 62 (sec. 
20) ; to bear arms, 62 (sec. 21). 

Civil war, Pennsylvania in, 13. 

Clerk of the courts, 35, 91 (sec. 1-5). 

Clerk of the orphans' court, 35, 91 (sec. 

1-5)- 
Collector of taxes, 44. 
Common law, 28. 



105 • 



:o6 



INDEX. 



Common pleas, court of, 26,76 (art. 5). 

Compensation, to be made for proper- 
ty taken for public use, 61 (sec. 10) . 

Constable, 46. 

Constitutions, past and present, 14; 
how amended, 15,97 (sec. 1). 

Contested elections, to be determined 
by the courts, 87 (sec. 17) . 

Contracts, laws impairing, forbidden, 
61 (sec. 17). 

Corporations, how chartered, 21; rights 
and limitations, 93-95 (art. 16). 

Coroner, 36, 91 (sec. 1-3), 92 (sec. 5). 

Councils, in boroughs, 48 ; in cities, 

50. 52. 

Counties, how formed, 31 ; limits to 
formation of, 31, 91 (art. 13). 

County auditors, 38, 91 (art. 1-3), 92 
(sec. 5, 7). 

County commissioners, 32, 91 (sec. 
i-5) >9 2 (sec. 7). 

County government, 31, 91 (art. 14). 

County superintendent of schools, 39. 

County surveyor, 37, 91 (sec. 1-5). 

County treasurer, 33, 91 (sec. 1-3), 92 
(sec. 5). 

Courts, county, 23, jj (sec. 5) ; crimi- 
nal, 24, 78 (sec. 9) ; civil, 26; or- 
phans', 26, 78 (sec. 9), 81 (sec. 22) ; 
argument, 26. 

Court, supreme, 27, 76 (sec. 1-3). 

Crawford County system of nomina- 
tions, 56. 

Debt, imprisonment for, prohibited, 61 
(sec. 16). 

Debts of boroughs, cities, counties, and 
townships limited, 49, 88 (sec. 8) ; 
payment of, within thirty years, must 
be provided for, 89 (sec. 10) ; state 
debt may be incurred for specified 
purposes only, 88 (sec. 4) ; and must 
be paid, 89 (sec. 11). 

Declaration of rights, 59 (art. 1). 

Delegate system of nominations, 55. 

Directors of poor, 37, 91 (sec. 1-3), 92 
(sec. 6). 

District attorney, 37, 91 (sec. 1-3), 92 
(sec. 5). 



Education, see Public Schools. 

Elections, when held, 17, 84 (sec. 2, 3) ; 
by plurality vote, 17 ; manner of con- 
ducting (Australian ballot), 56-58. 

Executive department, 20-22, 72 (art. 
4). 

Gerrymandering, 16. 

Governor, qualifications of, 20, 72 (sec. 
5) ; election of, 20, 72 (sec. 2) ; term, 
20, 72 (sec. 3) ; cannot succeed him- 
self, 20, 72 (sec. 3) ; duties, 20, 73 
(sec. 7-16); veto power of, 18, 20, 
74 (sec. 15, 16) ; appointing power 
of, 21, 73 (sec. 8) ; pardoning power 
of, 22, 73 (sec. 9) ; commander-in- 
chief of army and navy, 20, 73 (sec. 
7) ; pay of, 20 ; impeachment of, 82 
(sec. 1-3). 

Habeas corpus, 28, 61 (sec. 14). 
House of Representatives, see Repre- 
sentatives. 

Impeachment, 82 (art. 6). 
Importance of the state, 12, 13. 

Judges, supreme, number of, 27, 76 
(sec. 2) ; how chosen, 27, 76 (sec. 
2) ; term of office, 27, 76 (sec. 2) ; 
salaries, 30. 

Judges, county, number of, 23, 77 (sec. 
5) ; how chosen, 23, 77 (sec. 5) ; term 
of office, 23, 79 (sec. 15) ; salaries, 
30; associate, 23, 77 (sec. 5). 

Judgments, 34. 

Judicial districts, 23, jy (sec. 5). 

Juries, how secured, 23; grand, 24, 25; 
petit, 24, 25 ; traverse, 24, 26. 

Jury commissioners, 37. 

Justice of the peace, 45. 

Laws, passage of, 18, 66 (sec. 4), 74 

(sec. 18). 
Legislative department, 16-19, 62 (art. 

2). 
Libel, 60 (sec. 7). 
Liberty of speech, and of the press, 60 

(sec. 7). 



INDEX. 



107 



Lieutenant-governor, same qualifica- 1 
tions as governor, 20, 72 (sec. 4) ; 
election and term of office of, 20, 72 
(sec. 4) ; upon death, etc., of govern- 
or, succeeds him, 20, 74 (sec. 13) ; 
duties of, 20, 72 (sec. 4) ; member of 
board of pardons, 22, 73 (sec. 9) ; 
pay of, 30. 

Mayor, chief officer of city, 51, 52. 
Mechanics' liens, 35. 
Mercantile appraisers, 38. 
Militia, 21, 90 (art. n) ; governor 
commander-in-chief of, 20, 73 (sec. 

7). 
Mortgages, 36. 

Nobility, no title cf, to be created, 62 
(sec. 24) . 

Nominations, for state offices, 54; for 
county offices, 55 ; for townships and 
other local offices, 56. 

Normal schools, appropriations to, 69 
(sec. 17) ; graduates of, get life cer- 
tificates, 39. 

Orphans' court, 26, 76 (sec. 1), 81 (sec. 

22). 
Overseers of the poor, 44. 
Oyer and terminer, courts of, 24, 76 

(sec. 1, 9). 

Pardon board, 22, 73 (sec. 9). 

Passes, issue of free, prohibited, 97 
(sec. 8). 

Paupers, care of, 37, 44. 

Penn, William, province of Pennsyl- 
vania granted to, 9; first visit to his 
province, 10; his liberal policy, 10; 
humane treatment of the Indians, 
10; his successors, 12. 

Pennsylvania, origin of its name, 10. 

Primary elections, 55. 

Prisoners, all bailable except for cap- 
ital offenses, 61 (sec. 14). 

Prison inspectors, 39. 

Press, liberty of, guaranteed, 60 
(sec. 7). 



Property, private, right of, inherent, 59 
(sec. 1) ; not to be taken for public 
use without just compensation, 61 
(sec. 10), 94 (sec. 8). 

Prothonotary, 34, 91 (sec. 1-5). 

Punishments, cruel, not to be inflicted, 
61 (sec. 13). 

Quarter Sessions, courts of, 24, 76 
(sec. 1,9). 

Railroads, consolidation of competing 
railroads forbidden, 96 (sec. 4) ; dis- 
crimination in freight and passage 
forbidden, 95 (sec. 3) , 96 (sec. 7) ; 
free passes over, prohibited, 97 (sec. 
8) ; street railways not to be con- 
structed without consent of munici- 
pal authorities, 97 (sec. 9). 

Recorder of deeds, 36, 91 (sec. 1-5). 

Register of wills, 35, 91 (sec. 1-5). 

Religion, freedom of, guaranteed, 59 
(sec. 3). 

Representatives, qualifications of, 17, 
63 (sec. 5) ; number, 17, 65 (sec. 
17) ; election of, 16, 56, 62 (sec. 2) ; 
term of office, 63 (sec. 3) ; originate 
revenue bills, 69 (sec. 14) ; have sole 
power of impeachment, 82 (sec. 1) ; 
shall hold no other state or national 
office, 63 (sec. 6) ; pay, 18, 63 
(sec. 8). 

Revolution, Pennsylvania in, 12. 

Rights of citizens in criminal prose- 
cutions, 60 (sec. 9). 

Roads, how managed, 43. 

Salaries of state officers, 30. 

School directors, 42. 

Schools, public, legislature shall pro- 
vide for maintenance of, 90 (art. io, 
sec. 1) ; public school funds not to 
be used for sectarian schools, 90 
(art. 10, sec. 2) ; women eligible to 
school offices, 90 (sec. 3) ; state 
superintendent of, 21 ; county super- 
intendent of, 39 ; directors of, 43 ; 
city schools, 51, 53. 



io8 



INDEX. 



Secretary of the Commonwealth, ap- ' 
pointed by governor, 20, 73 (sec. 8) ; 
duties of, 2i, 75 (sec. 18) ; member 
of board of pardons, 22, 73 (sec. 9) ; 
holds office at pleasure of governor, 

20, 73 (sec. 8) ; pay of, 30. 
Secretary of internal affairs, elected for 

four years, 21, 76 (sec. 21) ; duties of, 

21, 75 (sec. 19) ; member of board of 
pardons, 22, 73 (sec. 9) ; pay of, 30. 

Senate, 16, 62 (sec. 1). 

Senators, qualifications of, 17, 63 (sec. 
5) ; number, 16, 64 (sec. 16) ; elec- 
tion of, 17, 56, 62 (sec. 2) ; term of, 
17, 63 (sec. 3) ; confirm governor's 
appointments, 19, 73 (sec. 8) ; try 
impeachments, 82 (sec. 2) ; pay, 18, 
63 (sec. 8) ; shall hold no other state 
or national office, 63 (sec. 6). 

Settlers, first, 9. 

Sheriff, 33, 91 (sec. 1-5). 

Special legislation, generally forbidden, 
66 (sec. 7) ; when permissible, ap- 
plication for, must be published, 68 
(sec. 8). 

State treasurer, elected for two years, 
21, 76 (sec. 21) ; duties of, 21 ; shall 
make no profit out of public moneys, 
89 (sec. 14) ; cannot succeed him- 
self, 76 (art. 21) ; pay of, 30. 

Supervisors, 43. 

Supreme court, 27 ; composition of, 76 
(sec. 2) ; jurisdiction of, 27, 76 (sec. 
3). See Judges of Supreme Court. 



Superintendent of public instruction, 
appointed by governor for four 
years, 21, 73 (sec. 8) ; removable 
only by impeachment, 82 (sec. 3, 4) ; 
duties of, 21, 76 (sec. 20) ; pay of, 30. 

Taxes, must be uniform, 87 (sec. 1) ; 
state tax, 32, 33, 42 ; county tax, 32, 
33 ; township taxes, how assessed, 
42; for roads, 43; for schools, 44; 
for support of poor, 44; how col- 
lected, 44. 

Teachers of public schools, how cer- 
tificated, 39 ; how employed, 44, 51, 
52. 

Terms of office of state officers, 30. 

Town, distinctive feature of, in New 
England, 41 ; unknown in Pennsyl- 
vania, 41. 

Town clerk, 45. 

Townships, 41 ; special legislation for, 
prohibited, 66 (sec. 3) ; how cre- 
ated, 41 ; differ from New England 
" towns," 41 ; how governed, 41. 

Township auditors, 45. 

Veto, governor's, 18, 74 (sec. 15). 
Voters, qualifications of, 16, 84 (sec. 1). 
Voting, method of, 57, 84 (sec. 4). 

Women, may be school directors and 
school superintendents, 43, 90 (sec. 
3) ; have no vote at any election, 16, 
84 (art. 1). 




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